In California, opioid settlement money helps fund lifesaving drugs and police projects

Sacramento — 

Sonja Verdugo mislaid her hubby to an opioid overdose past year. She regularly delivers aesculapian supplies to group utilizing narcotics who are surviving — and dying — connected nan streets of Los Angeles. And she advocates astatine Los Angeles City Hall for policies to reside addiction and homelessness.

Yet Verdugo didn’t cognize that hundreds of millions of dollars annually are flowing to California communities to combat nan opioid crisis, a payout that began successful 2022 and continues done 2038.

The money comes from pharmaceutical companies that made, distributed aliases sold medicine opioid painkillers and which agreed to salary astir $50 cardinal nationwide to settee lawsuits complete their domiciled successful nan overdose epidemic. Even though a recent Supreme Court decision upended a settlement pinch OxyContin shaper Purdue Pharma, galore different companies person already begun paying retired and will proceed doing truthful for years.

California, nan astir populous state, is successful statement for more than $4 billion.

“You tin locomotion down nan thoroughfare and you spot personification addicted connected each area — I mean it’s conscionable everywhere,” Verdugo said. “And I’ve ne'er moreover heard of nan funds. And to me, that’s crazy.”

Across nan nation, overmuch of this windfall has been shrouded successful secrecy, pinch galore jurisdictions offering small transparency connected really they’re spending nan money, contempt repeated queries from group successful betterment and families who mislaid loved ones to addiction.

Meanwhile, there’s plentifulness of jockeying complete really nan money should beryllium used. Companies are lobbying for spending connected products that scope from medicine bottles that fastener to full-body scanners to surface group entering jails. Local officials are often advocating for nan fields they represent, whether it’s treatment, prevention, aliases harm reduction. And immoderate governments are utilizing it to plug fund gaps.

In California, section governments must report really they walk colony costs to nan state’s Department of Health Care Services, but there’s nary request that nan reports beryllium made public.

KFF Health News obtained copies of nan documents via a nationalist records petition and is now making disposable for nan first clip 265 spending reports from section governments for fiscal twelvemonth 2022-23, nan astir caller reports filed.

The reports supply a snapshot of nan early spending priorities, and tensions.

Naloxone an early winner

As of June 2023, nan bulk of opioid colony costs controlled by California cities and counties — much than $200 cardinal — had yet to beryllium spent, nan reports show. It’s a taxable echoed nationwide arsenic officials return clip to deliberate.

The city and county of Los Angeles accounted for astir one-fifth of that unspent total, astir $39 million, though officials opportunity that since nan study was revenge they’ve begun allocating nan money to betterment lodging and programs to link group who are bum pinch residential addiction treatment.

Among section governments that did usage nan rate successful nan first fiscal year, nan astir celebrated entity of spending was naloxone, a medicine that reverses opioid overdoses and is often known by nan marque sanction Narcan. The medicine accounted for much than $2 cardinal successful spending crossed 19 projects.

One of those projects was successful Union City, successful nan San Francisco Bay Area. The organization of astir 72,000 residents had five suspected fentanyl overdoses, 2 of them fatal, wrong 24 hours successful September.

The opioid colony money “was invaluable,” Corina Hahn, nan city’s head of organization and recreation services, said successful her report. “Having these resources disposable helped educate, train and administer nan Narcan kits to parents, younker and schoolhouse staff.”

Union City bought 500 kits, each containing 2 doses of naloxone. The kits costs astir $13,500, pinch an further $56,000 group speech for akin projects, including backpacks containing Narcan kits and training materials for precocious schoolhouse students.

Union City besides plans to grow its outreach to bum group to money supplier acquisition and betterment services, including addiction counseling.

Those are nan sorts of lifesaving services that Verdugo, nan Los Angeles advocate, said are desperately needed arsenic deaths of group surviving connected nan streets heap up.

She mislaid her 46-year-old husband, Jesse Baumgartner, successful June 2023 to an addiction that started aft he was prescribed symptom medications for a precocious schoolhouse wrestling injury. He tried kicking his wont for six years utilizing methadone, but each clip prescribers lowered his dosage nan cravings drove him backmost to illicit drugs.

“It was conscionable this horrible roller coaster of him not being capable to get disconnected of it,” Verdugo said.

Sonja Verdugo mislaid her 46-year-old husband, Jesse Baumgartner, successful June 2023 to complications from an opioid addiction. She’s now a organization organizer for Ground Game LA.

(Arlene Mejorado / For KFF Health News)

By past nan mates had survived 4½ years of being bum and had been successful unchangeable lodging for astir 2 years.

Fentanyl use, peculiarly among bum people, “is conscionable rampant,” she said. People sometimes are initially exposed to nan cheap, highly addictive constituent unknowingly erstwhile it is mixed pinch thing else.

“Once they commencement utilizing it, it’s for illustration they conscionable can’t backtrack,” said Verdugo, who useful arsenic a organization organizer for Ground Game LA.

So she leaves boxes of naloxone astatine bum encampments successful nan dream of redeeming lives.

“They decidedly usage it, because it’s needed correct past — they can’t hold for an ambulance to travel out,” she said.

Cities backtrack connected spending for rule enforcement

By contrast, nan cities of Irvine and Riverside listed plans to prioritize rule enforcement by buying portable supplier analyzers, though neither metropolis did truthful successful nan first fiscal year, 2022-23. Their inclination mirrored patterns elsewhere successful nan country, pinch millions successful colony costs flowing to constabulary departments and jails.

But specified uses of nan money person stirred controversy, and some cities backed distant from nan supplier researcher acquisition aft nan Department of Health Care Services issued rules that opioid colony costs whitethorn not beryllium utilized for definite rule enforcement efforts. The rules specifically excluded “equipment for nan intent of grounds gathering for prosecution, specified arsenic nan TruNarc Handheld Narcotics Analyzer.”

In Hawthorne nan constabulary section had already spent astir $25,000 of colony costs connected an first installment to bargain 80 BolaWraps, devices that sprout Kevlar tethers to wrap astir a person’s limbs aliases torso.

After nan authorities said BolaWraps were not an allowable expense, nan metropolis said it would find different backing sources to salary nan remaining installments.

Santa Rosa, successful California’s vino country, spent astir $30,000 connected constabulary serviceman wellness and support.

The costs allowed nan constabulary section to boost its contracted wellness coordinator from a part-time to a full-time position, and to bargain a mobile instrumentality to measurement electrical activity successful nan brain, said Sgt. Patricia Seffens, a spokesperson.

The extremity is to usage nan exertion connected constabulary officers to thief “assess nan traumatic effect of responding to nan expanding overdose calls,” Seffens said successful an email.

In Dublin, eastbound of San Francisco, officials are utilizing portion of their $62,000 colony for a DARE program.

DARE, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, is simply a bid of classes taught by constabulary officers successful schools to promote students to debar drugs. It was initially developed during nan “Just Say No” campaign successful nan 1980s.

Studies person recovered inconsistent results from nan programme and no semipermanent effects connected supplier use, starring galore researchers to disregard it arsenic “ineffective.”

But connected its website, DARE cites studies since nan programme was updated successful 2009, which recovered “a affirmative effect” connected fifth- graders and “statistically important reductions” successful drinking and smoking astir 4 months aft completing nan program.

“The DARE programme erstwhile it first came retired looks a lot, batch different than what it looks for illustration correct now,” said Nate Schmidt, nan Dublin constabulary chief.

Schmidt said that further colony money will beryllium utilized to administer naloxone to residents and to banal it astatine schools and metropolis facilities.

Other section governments successful California spent humble sums connected a wide scope of addiction-related measures. Ukiah, successful Mendocino County, northbound of San Francisco, spent $11,000 for a caller heating and aerial conditioning strategy for a section supplier curen center. Orange and San Mateo counties spent colony costs successful portion connected medication-assisted curen for group incarcerated successful their jails. The metropolis of Oceanside spent $16,000 to showcase supplier prevention creation and videos made by mediate schoolhouse students successful section movie theaters, nationalist spaces, and connected buses and taxis.

The Department of Health Care Services said it plans to merchandise a statewide study connected really nan costs were spent, arsenic good arsenic nan individual metropolis and region reports, by year’s end.