How Are States Spending Opioid Settlement Cash? We Built a Database of Answers - KFF Health News

A first -of-its kind database catalogs more than 7,000 ways opioid settlement cash was used in 2022 and 2023 .

It's the most comprehensive resource to date tracking some of the largest public health settlements in American history.

States allotted, on average, about 18% of their funds for addiction and mental health treatment; 14% for recovery services.

Some funds are flowing to treatment approaches that defy best practices, such as denying people medications for opioid use disorder.

Some in the recovery community consider methadone and buprenorphine a crutch; study after study show that the medications help people stay in treatment and reduce the risk of overdose and death.

Only about $8.4 million in settlement money was committed to neonatal abstinence syndrome, a condition in which babies exposed to drugs in the womb experience withdrawal.

In Oregon City , Oregon , more than $30,000 was spent on screening first responders for heart disease.

Flint , Michigan , spent nearly $10,000 on a sign for a community service center.

Robeson County , North Carolina , spent about $10 K in settlement money to buy “ Andy the Ambulance ,” a robot ambulance.