Ohio is receiving $2 billion in opioid settlements; Here’s where that money goes

Across the United States, nearly 105,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2023. Of these deaths, roughly 76% were due to opioid usage.

After thousands of lawsuits were filed across the nation, a 2019 Oklahoma lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson was the first to go to trial. 

Other cases since then include settlements with Walmart, Walgreens, McKinsey and CVS.

Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia received settlement funds from the lawsuits. California received the highest amount of roughly $4 billion. 

According to the National Opioid Settlement website, the financial amount allocated to each state was decided by the amount of people who suffer from opioid use disorder in the state and the amount of opioids that have been shipped to the state.

Payments are going to be distributed over 18-years, according to the National Academy for State Policy. Similar to the overall financial allocation process, this distribution will be decided based on state population, amount of overdose deaths, the quantity of opioids delivered in each state, and the frequency of substance abuse disorder in the state. 

Throughout the 50 states, there is over $50 billion being awarded towards opioid recovery strategies according to the National Academy for State Health Policy website. This is a large sum of money that can be very hard to follow and track. 

In 2019, Christine Minhee, J.D. launched the Federal Opioid Settlement Tracker by , to help the public follow how much each state has received and what they are doing with the money.

“The site started in 2019 as a litigation tracking effort inspired by our failures of big tobacco,” said Minhee. “When I learned about big tobacco, I [thought], ‘Oh my God,’ so much money was misspent. Then I learned, ‘Oh wow,’ opioid litigation is happening, and we’re literally going to walk into the same situation.”

The goal of the settlement tracker, Minhee said, was to act as a watchdog for how the money from these settlements was being spent. 

“The overarching goal in the national kind of sense is kind of basic. It’s just like, somebody’s watching. This time someone’s watching [how the money is being spent],” she said. 

Once the resources are available, the information can be shared with the public in a digestible manner. 

“I was trying to hand off resources to the journalists, then to the public at large, to run with,” she said. 

Minhee also authored the site opioidsettlementguides.com. This site provides a state-by-state guide of how the money is allocated and required to be spent. Sites like these can help people better understand where these large sums of money are going. 

For example, when looking at Ohio, one can see how funding is allocated amongst different advisory bodies, as well as the total amount of funding the state is set to receive. 

“Ohio started this process back in 2020, under Governor DeWine; the first settlement was during 2021,” said Portage County Commissioner Jill Crawford. “2022 was the first allocation of funds that any local level received.”

In addition to all previous settlements, a separate settlement with Purdue Pharma was reached in June.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that Ohio was among 49 states that signed onto the $7.4 billion settlement. This settlement would mean an additional $198 million for Ohio’s state and local governments. 

Ohio’s funds were directed to the OneOhio Recovery Foundation and county commissioners. The OneOhio Recovery Foundation is responsible for distributing 55% of the funds that the state receives in all of the settlements.

Of the other 45% of settlement funds, 15% goes to the state of Ohio, and 30% goes to local Ohio governments.

The local government funds are supposed to be used for community recovery and the immediate needs of residents. The state of Ohio funds are used for statewide buying power for prevention and treatment services. 

The OneOhio Memorandum of Understanding outlines three categories of abatement strategies for which the funds can be used. These include strategies for community recovery, statewide innovation and recovery, and sustainability. 

Within these three categories, specific details are outlined, such as community recovery, expanding availability of treatment, early intervention, and prevention programs.

In 2024, $45.4 million was awarded to over 245 projects across the state of Ohio through the OneOhio Recovery Foundation, according to the OneOhio Recovery website.

For these grants, “Pretty much everyone in Ohio was eligible to apply, including nonprofits, for-profit organizations and government agencies,” said a representative from OneOhio Recovery in an email.

The OneOhio Recovery website details the process for awarding grants, which involves feedback from a panel including the 19 OneOhio Regions, an expert panel, Grant Oversight Committee, the Board of Directors and the Foundation Staff.

Of these grantees, 12 projects were focused in Region 13, which houses Portage County. Some of these projects included: Ohio Recovery Housing, Portage Co. Adult Probation Department, and Lake Area Recovery Center.

When it comes to funds directly in Portage County, the county commissioners consult with internal departments and county agencies to determine where to allocate funds, Crawford said. 

“For 2023, there was about $365,000 that was received,” said Crawford. “In 2024, Portage County received $750,000 in settlement proceeds from the state of Ohio.”

The funding for 2025 is still in process, but through August 31st, Portage County has received about $438,000, Crawford said. 

With this money, Portage County has allocated funding to various services to support those who might need recovery resources.

“In 2023, there were approximately $130,000 of expenditures made,” Crawford said. “We have allocated to outside service providers, that’s $25,000 to rehabilitation services. Another $35,000 went to various counseling entities, and another $60,000 went to drug testing and helping people with getting those types of services.”

The program is still very new, so figuring out where the funds are going to be best placed may change in the future. Portage Country will listen to feedback from residents and expand the program as needed, Crawford said. 

“As we get a few more years of experience and see how the results of these funds are allocated to these various resources, we can see the impact they’re having on the community and see if we need to revise and reallocate, or if everything’s going fine and we’re on the right track,” Crawford said. 

As for the future of the Opioid Settlement Tracker, Minhee plans to update the site with more data regarding how the settlement money is being spent. 

“It’s telling the story of the national picture of the data that I do have about what states are required to do when it comes to spending,” Minhee said. “The stuff that’s on my site now is just the tip of the iceberg, and the [other] stuff I have is the stuff that’s underneath.”