How will Wisconsin spend $764M in opioid

With fentanyl-linked fatal overdoses on the rise, Wisconsin officials are just starting to work out how best to reverse that deadly trend with the help of more than $750 million in opioid-settlement funds expected to hit state coffers in the next several years.

State and local officials have started spending about $31 million of that money on overdose reversal drugs, fentanyl testing strips, vending machines stocked with life-saving supplies, expanded addiction treatment and more.

“You’re going to see these funds expended over many years,” Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul said. “Funds have begun to go out ... but that process is going to continue over a long period of time.”

On Thursday, Kaul announced the state has received another 4,000 doses of Narcan, a form of the overdose reversal drug naloxone, for the Wisconsin State Patrol’s nearly 500 officers. The agency first started carrying Narcan for overdose cases in early 2018.

“That’s the potential to save 4,000 lives,” said Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent Tim Carnahan. “Access to naloxone or Narcan means an overdose call has the potential to become an opportunity for recovery.”

Wisconsin has distributed more than 31,000 doses of Narcan using a portion of the millions of dollars received through multistate settlements with various opioid manufacturers and distributors, according to the state Department of Justice.

In the Madison area, Julia Olsen, supervisor of Public Health Madison and Dane County, said the agency is using some of the money to install three vending machines around Dane County that will be stocked with life-saving supplies such as Narcan.

“We’re currently in the process of getting those vending machines fitted to the supplies that need to go in them,” Olsen said. “I would say we are very close to being able to launch those.”

Milwaukee County earlier this year spent about $400,000 to place similar vending machines around the community.

Local communities are in line to receive 70% of an estimated $764 million in opioid-settlement funds, with the state Department of Health Services getting the rest.

Those providing the money include:

Another settlement, with Purdue Pharma, remains pending in bankruptcy court. Kaul said his office will continue to pursue efforts to hold distributors and manufacturers accountable, meaning future settlement funds aren’t out of the question.

“While $750 million is a huge amount of money, it’s also not nearly as significant as the impact that the epidemic has had,” said Kaul, who noted that the rise of fentanyl use paired with increased mental health concerns created by the COVID-19 pandemic have directly impacted the state’s rate of opioid-related overdoses.

To combat increased use of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that doctors prescribe to treat severe pain that can be combined with other drugs without the user’s knowledge, the state DHS this year plans to spend $300,000 on grants to provide local law enforcement agencies with fentanyl test strips for individuals at risk of an opioid-related overdose.

The strips can be dipped into water containing a small sample from a pill, powder or injectable drug. Lines on the strips show the presence of fentanyl. The goal is to help drug users make informed decisions, such as using less of a drug or using only as long as someone else is present to monitor them.

Of the funding received so far, some $10 million is being spent on upgrading or building new addiction-treatment facilities, with $6 million going to tribal nations for prevention and treatment and $3 million going to law enforcement. Another $3 million is to expand access to naloxone and $2 million is to increase the distribution of fentanyl test strips.

Other efforts include $2.5 million to help pay for residential addiction treatment and $2 million to increase medication-assisted treatment, such as with buprenorphine, or Suboxone.

Paul Krupski, DHS policy director and acting director of opioid initiatives, described the opioid-settlement funds as “the most flexible dollars that we are going to have to address the epidemic,” but he added the need is considerably larger than the millions of dollars coming to the state.

“There’s no amount of money that is going to fix the issue and I think that’s a fair statement nationally,” Krupski said. “So what we need to do is target the funding in ways that are shown to be successful and are shown to be evidence-based, so that we can begin to turn the tide and see fewer overdoses and deaths across Wisconsin.”

DHS reported a record 1,427 opioid overdose deaths in 2021, 16.3% more than the previous record in 2020 and more than twice the toll from six and seven years earlier.

More than 90% of 2021 opioid overdose deaths in Wisconsin involved fentanyl or other synthetic opioids, with fentanyl overdoses nearly doubling from 2019 to 2021, according to DHS.

In Dane County, 139 people died from opioid overdoses last year, 13% higher than the previous record the year before.

Final numbers for 2022 won’t be available until fall. A preliminary count of 1,410 opioid overdose deaths had been reported for last year as of this week, according to DHS.

Originally published on madison.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

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