End Substance Use Disorder Statement on White House’s Release of Model State Law for the Use of Opioid Litigation Funds
Today, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy released a model law to help states ensure that opioid litigation funds are used address the root causes of the overdose crisis. End Substance Use Disorder released the following statement:
“As the lawsuits against the corporations the fueled the opioid crisis reach their conclusion, it is vital that states use the settlement funds to save lives and promote healing,” said Erin Schanning, president of End Substance Use Disorder. “We applaud the White House for providing leadership and guidance to states on how to ensure that those funds are used to support families and communities directly impacted by the overdose crisis.”
The model law would require that states designate opioid litigation proceeds to a special fund that can be used for evidence-based practices to prevent and treat substance use disorder. The law calls for states to apply the funds to prevention, treatment, harm reduction and recovery supports.
The model law is spurred in part by the fact that many states did not use the 1998 tobacco litigation funds to address smoking. Instead, those proceeds were used to fill budget holes or pay off debts. As a result, no state currently funds its tobacco prevention and cessation programs at the levels that are recommended by the CDC.
End Substance Use Disorder has previously endorsed guiding principles for the use of funds from the opioid litigation. These principles include:
Spend money to save lives
Use evidence to guide spending
Invest in youth prevention
Focus on racial equity
Develop a fair and transparent process for deciding where to spend the funding.
The model law issued today meets these principles and End Substance Use Disorder encourages all states to adopt this common-sense legislation.