In the last two years, state attorneys general have agreed to legal settlements worth more than $50 billion with companies who make or sell opioids. They promised that the money will be used for addiction treatment and prevention. They wanted to avoid the mistake of the tobacco settlement in the 1990s where billions of dollars were paid by cigarette companies to fill budget gaps, instead of funding programs that would stop or prevent smoking.
In at least one Californian county, the past is repeating itself. Local leaders in many parts of the country find themselves in similar situations: they must choose between paying today’s bills or investing to fight an ongoing crisis.
Mendocino County, located in rural Northern California, has the highest overdose death rate in the entire state. Its board of supervisors decided to use more than $63,000 of opioid settlement funds — about 6.5% of all the settlement cash the county has received in the first two years of distribution— to help fill a budget shortfall of about $6 million. The money was allocated to cover employee health care premiums, wage hikes and cost-of living adjustments. County officials plan on using that…
