What Are the Opioid Settlement Funds?
North Carolina’s Opioid Settlement Funds
North Carolina is part of a historic $26 billion agreement that will help bring desperately needed relief to communities impacted by opioids. Opioid Settlement funds are to be utilized to support programs or services that serve persons with opioid use disorder, or any co-occurring substance use disorder or mental health condition. NC was awarded a 1.4 billion dollar settlement to be paid over 18 years. North Carolina’s Opioid and Substance Use Action Plan lays out concrete strategies to advance prevention, reduce harm, and connect people to the care that they need.
More details, resources, and data dashboards can be found at: https://ncopioidsettlement.org/ and https://morepowerfulnc.org/opioid-settlements/
How Does It Work?
Option A Strategies
Local Governments in NC spanning 100 counties and 17 municipalities have two options:
Option A: Choose one or more strategies from a list of evidence-based, high-impact strategies that address treatment, harm reduction, prevention, and recovery
Option B: Choose one of more strategies from a longer list of strategies that are not evidence-based. This option requires engaging in a collaborative strategic planning process with diverse, local stakeholders.
What Can I Do?
Find your county’s Opioid Task Force and attend their meetings. Make yourself known and available as an OUD
treatment expert. The four actions below will help you get started.
Know your epidemic, know your response.
Visit the DHHS Injury and Violence Prevention Branch Opioid Data site. This webpage includes statewide summary data, a link to the state’s Opioid and Substance Use Action Plan Data Dashboard, monthly data updates, and county-level data.
Make collaboration your strategy.
Get to know your County Commissioners, Managers, Health Directors, and Sheriff, and familiarize yourself with local harm reduction efforts including local syringe service programs.
Nothing about us without us.
Ensure the discussion is focused on those at highest risk of opioid overdose and consider including the experiences of peer support specialists, patients, and patient stories.
Meet people where they are.
Understand your audience and consider the political influences, pressures, cultural contexts, and other views on abstinence, harm reduction, and treatment. Maintain a harm reduction approach and understand that treatment with restrictions might be better than abstinence-only programs.
