Pennsylvania continues to grapple with the devastating impact of the opioid epidemic, with nearly 5,000 lives lost to drug overdoses in 2023, equating to approximately one death every two hours. In an ongoing effort to mitigate this crisis, a significant portion of a nationwide $50 billion settlement with prescription opioid manufacturers and distributors is now being tracked through a new online resource for the public.
This settlement, reached in 2021, holds these companies accountable for their role in fueling the opioid addiction crisis across the United States. Funds from this settlement are distributed to states based on the severity of the epidemic within their borders.
Researchers from Temple University, Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust have collaborated to launch a new website. This platform provides detailed information on how Pennsylvania’s share of these opioid settlement funds is being utilized to help residents.
To date, approximately $390 million of the opioid settlement funds have been distributed within Pennsylvania. Counties and other litigating subdivisions, which receive 85% of the commonwealth’s settlement funds, have reported spending approximately $14 million on treatment medications for opioid use disorder, $8 million on prevention strategies, and $6.5 million on recovery support.
Temple University researchers utilized scientific legal mapping methods to help structure the data presented on the website. This ensured precise categorization of the self-reported opioid remediation efforts from counties and various litigating subunits, such as county district attorney offices.
Jonathan Larsen, legal technology manager of the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple’s Beasley School of Law, emphasized the crucial role of their work in generating high-quality data suitable for health outcomes research. He explained that the new site allows individuals to access county-level information, detailing both the financial allocations and the specific programs being funded.
