Editor's note: Parts of this article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Opioid settlement dollars are flowing to states and local governments across the country but what they’re being spent on can be difficult to track.
The money comes from opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers who are paying tens of billions of dollars in restitution to settle lawsuits about their role in the overdose epidemic.
Here in northern Michigan, Interlochen Public Radio is working to track how our communities are putting the money to use.
IPR’s Michael Livingston sat down with Aneri Pattani, a senior reporter for KFF Health News who has been covering how funds are being spent on a national scale.
Pattani says her work began with trying to answer a simple question: Is the money from the settlements making a positive difference in communities?
She says that question became hard to answer.
"That's when it really prompted this larger project of saying, 'There's not a great resource for this data, for basic information about how much money places are getting, how they're spending it. Can we use reporting to help fill that gap?'" she said.
Since every state has a different method of distributing and using the funds, Pattani says it can be difficult sort through information that may not be publicly available.
Listen to the interview via the audio player above.
Click the links below to read some of Pattani's stories that zoom in on how individual communities are putting their settlement dollars to use:
- An Ice Rink To Fight Opioid Crisis: Drug-Free Fun vs. Misuse of Settlement Cash
- Colorado’s Naloxone Fund Is Drying Up, Even as Opioid Settlement Money Rolls In
- Lifesaving Drugs and Police Projects Mark First Use of Opioid Settlement Cash in California
- Tribal Nations Invest Opioid Settlement Funds in Traditional Healing To Treat Addiction
- Using Opioid Settlement Cash for Police Gear Like Squad Cars and Scanners Sparks Debate
- Officials Agree: Use Settlement Funds to Curb Youth Addiction. But the ‘How’ Gets Hairy
- A Rural County’s Choice: Use Opioid Funds to Pay Off Debt, or Pay Them Forward to Curb Crisis
