Livingston County is in line to receive about $4 million as part of Michigan’s historic $800 million settlement to try to heal the damage caused by the opioid epidemic.
The news was delivered by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel at the last meeting of the Livingston County Community Alliance, the organization that works to combat drug abuse in the community.
“I think it is great that Attorney General Nessel came to our coalition meeting,” said Sarah McGeorge, Livingston County’s Drug-Free Communities Project coordinator.
The money will be coming to Michigan as part of a $26 billion settlement with American drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Cardinal Health. Johnson & Johnson – the pharmaceutical drugmaker – also agreed to contribute $5 billion to the settlement’s grand total, agreeing to not lobby for opioid-related activities and to formally discontinue all opioid sales.
At a press conference in Lansing last week, Nessel said she hopes it doesn’t lie dormant in the Legislature.
“Please don’t treat this money as a political football,” said Nessel at the press conference. “This isn’t a Democratic issue. It’s not a Republican issue.”
Numerous attorneys general participated in the three years of negotiations, including those from Florida, New York, Ohio, Texas, California, Colorado and others. Overall, the nationwide agreement marked the second largest multi-state agreement in the history of the United States.
More than 4,000 claims from state and local governments were a part of the discussions.
Funds will start to be deployed in April of this year.
Nessel explained the money can be spent on opioid-use disorder treatment and recovery support, addressing the needs of residents involved in the criminal justice system and first responder support.
The dollars can also be spent on services for pregnant women, infants and other family members impacted by the opioid epidemic.
“The list goes on and on, but there must be a connection to opioid use, opioid abuse and opioid prevention,” Nessel said. “I have personally met with health care providers, local organizations and community leaders regarding the impact of opioids and on the communities they serve – and I will continue those meetings over the next several months.”
Nessel shared she received a 90-day prescription of hydrocodone – an opioid – after a C-section when one of her twin boys was positioned underneath the left side of her ribcage and “split a whole bunch of ribs while I was pregnant.”
She was told to utilize the drug every four hours.
“It was just a few weeks later that one day, I got more than four hours of sleep and realized I was sick as a dog and I couldn’t understand how I got so sick when I never even left the house,” Nessel said. “It became really clear to me that’s how quickly a person can become addicted and it was a painful process.”
While her condition was short-term, she underscored people who’ve been subjected to opioid use to manage long-term pain are forced into a “living hell” when struggling to stop – “and we have to help people…we have to help people get back to a place of normalcy.”
Already, Michigan’s largest municipalities are set to obtain “tens of millions of dollars,” however, Nessel said they could earn more after the state starts appropriating the rest of the funds.
