As of December 1, 2023, 40 states have laws regulating the use of opioid litigation proceeds, a 25% increase from the 32 states that had enacted laws as of August 2022, according to new data published by the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University Beasley School of Law (CPHLR).
As the opioid overdose epidemic continues to ravage the United States, approximately 3,000 state and local governments have sued opioid manufacturers and distributors for compensation for opioid-related harms. These lawsuits have resulted in major structured settlements to certain states and local governments, presenting an opportunity to fund a public health approach to abate the epidemic.
National experts partnered in 2021 to develop model state legislation that directs state use of opioid litigation proceeds to fund evidence-based substance use disorder prevention, treatment, recovery, or harm reduction programming, infrastructure, evidence-informed pilots, and establish a council to administer and direct the fund, among other activities. Since then, more laws have been put into effect as an ademption to regulate the opioid overdose epidemic.
CPHLR’s updated legal data capture key features of laws that direct the use of opioid litigation proceeds across all 50 states and the District of Columbia in effect as of August 1, 2022, through December 1, 2023.
Consistent with previous trends, the state laws included in the updated data frequently involve the creation of opioid settlement councils tasked with recommending or directing the allocation of funds. In some states, additional legislation specifies the composition and membership criteria for these councils.
The data were originally developed with the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association with funding from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President. This update was made possible with support from the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE), and the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse Addiction and Abatement Trust in partnership with The Pennsylvania State University.
“This new longitudinal data improves our ability to understand how and where these laws have been implemented, how they differ, and potential gaps that can be addressed by state laws in directing utilization of opioid proceeds in the future,” said Jonathan Larsen, JD, MPP, the legal technology manager at the Center and lead researcher on this project.
As of December 1, 2023, the data also show:
- 26 states and the District of Columbia require the establishment of a council to recommend or direct spending from the funds, an increase from 22 jurisdictions as of August 1, 2022. In 12 of those jurisdictions, the council has decision-making authority as opposed to being advisory.
- 15 states and the District of Columbia require council representation of individuals with lived experience with SUD recovery, an increase from 13 jurisdictions as of August 1, 2022
- 15 states and the District of Columbia stipulate that evidence-based substance use disorder programming is a core focus of spending, an increase from 11 jurisdictions as of August 1, 2022
- 11 states and the District of Columbia require the fund to supplement existing substance use disorder (SUD) program funding.
- 15 states and the District of Columbia secure the money within the fund, making sure the money will not revert to the general fund of the state treasury.
These data can be used to assess states’ progress in enacting the opioid litigation proceeds model act, identify gaps in existing state laws, and demonstrate the utility of policy surveillance methods for assessing adherence and diffusion of model legislation.
Access this and other drug policy datasets on PDAPS.org.
The Center for Public Health Law Research at the Temple University Beasley School of law supports the widespread adoption of scientific tools and methods for mapping and evaluating the impact of law on health. Learn more at http://phlr.org.