Opioid settlement money coming to local governments

Sep. 26—Buchanan County and the city of St. Joseph are expected to receive settlement money in October from their opioid lawsuits.

In 2018, both sued major opioid manufacturing and distributing companies for their role in the rising overdose deaths across the country. In St. Joseph alone, opioid deaths have more than quadrupled in the last five years.

"This opioid situation is terrible," said Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Lee Sawyer. "It's awful. Our society pays in a lot of ways, so we're hoping that together we can come up with a good plan to maximize that money."

In one of the largest civil action lawsuits ever, Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen have agreed to pay $26 billion to municipalities across the country over several years.

The exact dollar amounts the two governments will receive hasn't been determined, but News-Press NOW previously reported it will be about a combined $2 million. The guidelines on how those funds can be used are still murky, but City Manager Bryan Carter said there are two primary purposes — prevention and mitigation.

"How much do we want that money going toward mitigation, towards solving the problem that has developed? And how much of that money do we want to go to prevention? That's stopping the problem from further developing," Carter said. "That will be kind of that larger policy decision that we'll have to work through."

During a meeting Monday, city and county officials recognized the need for updated community education about opioids, specifically fentanyl. Some of the settlement money could go toward outreach and educational campaigns.

"There's a whole preventative education piece on opioids," Sawyer said. "There's also the treatment side. So we're trying to figure out what's the best way that we can get the most out of trying to improve the situation?"

Dr. Bob Corder, an addiction medicine specialist with The CENTER, said the money could go a long way in implementing peer support specialists to address the treatment side of the problem.

"There's a lot of support that they need and should use," Corder said about his patients. "I think having peer support, a person who's actually had a drug addiction that's been trained to help people that have current addictions, would help."

An autopsy to determine an overdose death costs the county $2,300. Since it's so expensive, Adam Wineinger, the county's medical examiner, has to pick and choose when to perform an autopsy. While there have been 31 confirmed overdose deaths this year, the actual number is likely higher. The settlement money also could go to autopsies leading to better local data.

During the meeting, the city and county agreed to work together to use the funds to best address the current crisis.

"We're really pleased that the city is totally open to working together," Sawyer said. "There's no reason why together we can't try to make a difference."

Quinn Ritzdorf can be reached at quinn.ritzdorf@newspressnow.com