The survey on how to prioritize spending opioid settlements funds has been extended to August 25. The confidential survey is available online at bit.ly/ForsythOpioidSurvey.
North Carolina is expected to receive $750 million over 18 years as part of a $26 billion Opioid Settlement agreement designed to remediate the impact of opioids on communities nationwide. The agreement and a subsequent bankruptcy settlement resolve litigation over the role of five companies in the opioid epidemic and also requires significant industry changes intended to prevent this type of crisis from happening again.
For North Carolina’s part of the settlement, 15 percent of settlement funds will go to the State, and the remaining 85 percent go to NC’s 100 counties and 17 municipalities. Forsyth County is expecting to receive over $20 million during the next 18 years as part of the nationwide settlement. The funds can be used for opioid prevention and treatment. Funds can also be used for other strategies in the response to the opioid epidemic such as education and support for first responders, leadership/planning/coordination, training, research and criminal justice diversion programs.
Counties and municipalities that receive settlement funds will each create a special revenue fund, which will ensure that these funds are used for allowable uses to respond to the opioid epidemic. These funds will be subject to annual financial review. The annual financial and impact reports on the fund will be available for the public to view at https://ncopioidsettlement.org/.
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