New Database Catalogs More than 7,000 Ways Opioid Settlement Cash is Being Used

A first-of-its-kind database is tracking how state and local governments are using opioid settlement funds, NPR reports.

The database is the result of collaboration between KFF Health News, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Shatterproof, a national nonprofit focused on addiction. The database, the result of a yearlong investigation, catalogs more than 7,000 ways opioid settlement funds were used in 2022 and 2023.

The investigation found states and localities received more than $6 billion in opioid settlement funds in those two years. They spent or committed about a third of that amount and set aside about another third for future use. The last third was untrackable, because many jurisdictions did not produce public reports on the funds.

Spending ranged from more than $51 million to increase the addiction treatment workforce in California to $11.74 to purchase postage in Yavapai County, Arizona. On average, states allocated about 18% of funds for substance use disorder and mental health treatment; 14% for recovery services including housing, transportation and legal aid; 11% for harm reduction efforts including overdose reversal medications; and 9% for prevention programs designed to stop people from developing substance use disorders.