Tennessee is one of many states that sued opioid manufacturers, distributors and marketers — as well as pharmacies — in response to the opioid epidemic. The companies settled, and the state brought in hundreds of millions of dollars.
WPLN health reporter Catherine Sweeney interviewed Aneri Pattani, a KFF Health News reporter who has spent years covering opioid settlement funding. You can listen to the interview above.
Opioid companies and pharmacies paid billions of dollars directly to state governments, and lawmakers in Tennessee created the Opioid Abatement Council to decide how to spend the bulk of the state’s share. That group used a competitive grant process to distribute some of the money, and recently announced what proposals nabbed funding in this round, which totaled $80 million.
About half of it will go to treatment programs. There are also some creative uses, such as post-incarceration programs and recovery housing. The council also awarded grants to universities for behavioral health workforce training.
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