Kansas City to get $15 million in opioids settlement to use for prevention, treatment

Over the next 18 years, Kansas City has the chance to put millions of dollars towards opioid treatment and prevention.

Officials are figuring out how to distribute $15.5 million the city will soon begin receiving as part of a national settlement against a handful of painkiller distributors, including Johnson & Johnson, over their handling of the opioid epidemic.

The full $26 billion settlement in being divided among states, and then between regions and cities. Missouri is receiving just shy of $500 million; Kansas City gets a cut of that money.

The payments, which could start coming in as early as this summer, will be made over 18 years, with the bulk of the money coming in the first decade, city and state officials said.

In summer 2018, Kansas City joined other local governments in suing numerous large companies connected to the opioid industry, accusing them of creating “the worst man-made epidemic in modern medical history” through deceptive marketing.

“Far too many families know the devastating impact of the opioid epidemic, and @KCMO has joined efforts to hold manufacturers accountable,” Lucas Tweeted on Thursday, after the Kansas City Council voted unanimously to approve two resolutions related to the settlement.

As part of the resolutions, the city will consult health departments, specialty courts and housing partners to figure out the best ways to use the money. The city is allowed, per the settlement agreement, to use the funding for:

• Healthcare support for those living with addiction, including increasing behavioral health services and outreach to intervene, treat and prevent overdose deaths and opioid misuse.

• Finding ways to appropriately prescribe and dispense opioids.

• Addressing criminal justice around those impacted by opioids, including reducing incarceration caused by opioid usage disorder, diversion programs, treatment and recovery services for those who are incarcerated or previously incarcerated and expanding halfway housing for people with opioid use disorder.
  
  

• Preventing overdose deaths by increasing availability and distribution of naloxone, a medicine that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose.

• Providing mental health programming for young people who could be at risk for misusing opioids.

Kansas City City Manager Brian Platt has 120 days to devise a plan for using the funds that plan will be presented to City Council.

Opioid lawsuits

The formula used to determine how much each state receives took into consideration the number of overdose deaths per capita, the number of residents with a substance abuse disorder and the number of opioids prescribed.

In Missouri, more than 1,920 people died from overdoses in 2020, the most recent year data is available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This was almost a 20% increase from the year prior.

The settlements were reached by a bipartisan group of state attorneys general with painkiller manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, as well as separately with three distributors: Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen. Missouri was not part of that group but participated in negotiations over the settlement.

In exchange, the companies will be released from liability and won’t admit fault in claims that they recklessly marketed and distributed painkillers despite a rising addiction crisis. The agreements also requires Johnson & Johnson to stop selling opioids nationwide and stop opioids-related lobbying.

Last week, Purdue Pharma, owned by the Sackler family, also reached a nationwide settlement over its own role in the opioid crisis. Missouri was also among the states to sue the OxyContin creator.