Michigan getting millions more to aid opioid battle

• Michigan expected to receive $178.5 million in new opioid settlement funds from drug manufacturers and distributors
• $154 million is from a national settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, paid out over 15 years
• A total of $24.5 million for Michigan over 10 years comes from a smaller settlement with eight opioid drug makers

New legal settlements in national lawsuits mean Michigan will receive additional money to address its opioid crisis. But state and local governments need to plan well to make billions in settlement funds count, experts say.

The opioid crisis has for decades claimed thousands of lives per year in Michigan alone. State data from 2024 shows addiction treatment and recovery programs may be contributing to a decline in overdose deaths, but new settlements may not be enough to make up for federal funding cuts to existing programs. 

Michigan is expected to receive $154 million over 15 years as part of a national settlement with Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, and the drugmaker’s owners. That company and other pharmaceutical firms were alleged to have been partly responsible for the nation’s opioid crisis through decades of aggressive marketing of synthetic opioid pain medication.

Michigan is also set to receive a total of $24.5 million from a settlement with eight generic manufacturers, according to an announcement this month from Attorney General Dana Nessel. 

The new funds are in addition to the $1.6 billion Michigan was already slated to receive by 2040 from national settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors, with the money intended to address the epidemic. 

The funds so far have been split roughly equally between state and local governments. Danny Wimmer, Nessel’s press secretary, said allocation of the newest funds for state and local governments is still being negotiated. 

“Importantly, neither of these settlements have yet been finalized between parties or by the Court, and the settlements remain tentative pending participation in the settlements,” Wimmer wrote in a statement to Bridge. “This is similar to most other past settlements and not unique to these two settlements at this juncture.” 

Related:

• Michigan may lose $93M in federal funds for drug treatment, recovery 
• Michigan communities sit on $90M meant to help drug users, Bridge finds
• How is your Michigan community spending opioid settlement money? Look it up
• A steep drop in Michigan overdose deaths, thanks in part to Narcan

Although the opioid settlement funds are intended to expand prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery efforts, some may be used to keep existing programs in place. Michigan could lose $93 million because of cuts to federal grants for substance use disorder programs, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. 

MDHHS spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said the newest settlements are not enough to make up for funding cuts in the long term.

“The front-loaded structure of the settlements would allow for some backfilling of funding in the short term, but not enough over the long term,” Sutfin wrote in a statement to Bridge Michigan.

Amy Dolinky, technical advisor for opioid settlement planning for the Michigan Association of Counties, said counties “are seeing a need for filling gaps with programs that have lost federal funding, and in some cases, settlement funds are being used to support those programs.” 

Ingham County has set aside $100,000 of its opioid settlement money for an emerging needs fund, to be used for harm reduction supplies like naloxone, to respond to new drug contamination trends and stabilize programs impacted by funding cuts.

Dolinky, of the counties association, said additional funds are important because Michigan’s opioid crisis is so widespread, and it’s vital that local governments make sure the one-time funds will have an impact. 

“At this point in the drug overdose crisis, almost every community has been impacted,” Dolinky said. “We've been working with many counties across the state to ensure that they are really engaging in those planning efforts and bringing those local experts to the table and engaging with people with lived and living experience to really understand what the current needs are.” 

Michigan has seen a decline in overdose deaths for three consecutive years, with just under 2,000 deaths in 2024 compared to almost 3,000 in 2023. Experts attribute the decline to the increased availability of free naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan, an emergency medication used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. 

Dolinky noted that while the reduction in deaths is a win, it’s just the beginning. “When it comes to addressing the drug overdose crisis, is the goal just to reduce fatalities, or is the goal to reduce fatalities to then further and really work to improve quality of life for folks in Michigan?”

Jonathan Stoltman is the director of the Opioid Policy Institute, which has focused on holding state and local governments accountable for mismanagement of settlement funds. 

“We remain very concerned about how the money is being spent,” Stoltman said. “Whenever there's new money coming in, we want to make sure that it's spent well, and that there are processes in place to spend it in a way that is transparent.” 

Stoltman said this new money could be a “push in the right direction” to spend funds more effectively. For example, Stoltman said he believes that instead of purchasing Narcan, the state of Michigan should purchase the less expensive generic version of opioid overdose reversal medication. 

He also said naloxone could be placed in more effective areas. 

“Some places have it in police stations, some places have it in libraries, some places have it in schools,” Stoltman said. “Those aren't necessarily the worst ideas in the whole world, but you also have to make sure it's getting into the hands of those people that need it the most. And you can understand why someone who actively uses drugs might not go into a police station.” 

A September 2024 Bridge investigation found that at least $90 million in settlement funds had yet to be utilized, and that 4 in 10 communities had yet to spend any money since the funds began arriving in 2023. 

“We're now in year three, and so I have a really hard time with communities that aren't spending this money at this point,” Stoltman said. “I think there is a balance between getting it out quickly and getting it out well. But I do think those things are possible. I still remain frustrated that there wasn't a lot of this planning discussion happening before the money came in.”