opioid settlement

Forsyth County health officials plan to set aside more funding from a state settlement with opioid manufacturers for medications used to treat substance use disorders.

The opioid strategic planning report calls for funding towards various programs and initiatives such as the Women with Children Recovery Center and a sobriety treatment and response team.

Three community meetings are scheduled this week in Winston-Salem to discuss how to best use a $1.5 billion state settlement with opioid distributors and manufacturers. Forsyth County will receive a total of about $20 million over 18 years.

Forsyth County is preparing to distribute more funding from a multi-million dollar state settlement with opioid distributors and manufacturers.

Some state and local governments have started tapping in to opioid settlement funds for law enforcement expenses. Many argue it should go toward treating addiction instead.

State attorneys general vowed the funds would go toward tackling the addiction crisis. But as with the tobacco payouts of the 1990s, local officials have started using them to fill budget shortfalls.

Victims of prescription opioid addiction as well as communities slammed by the opioid crisis could wind up with nothing if Mallinckrodt files for a second bankruptcy.

Guilford County is working to determine how to use nearly $22 million to address the opioid crisis.  The funding comes from a state settlement with drug distributors and manufacturers. 

Forsyth County Commissioners this week agreed to allot over a million dollars to programs aimed at addressing the opioid epidemic.