A wasted chance to fight addiction? Opioid settlement cash fills a local budget gap

At a December 2022 meeting, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors decided to use $63,000 of opioid settlement funds to help cover a budget shortfall. Since settlement payments will arrive annually till 2038, they plan to use it as an ongoing revenue source.

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.

(Image credit: KFF/Screengrab of Dec. 13, 2022, Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting)

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Aneri Pattani