Nevada received $1.2B in opioid settlements. Where has it gone?

Nevada’s Attorney General Aaron Ford announced Tuesday which programs are benefiting from $1.2 billion in settlements from companies that played a role in the opioid crisis, which caused the deaths of over 500 Clark County residents in 2024.

Those dollars have gone toward programs focused on the youth, such as the Boys & Girls Club and Raise the Future, an organization focused on finding permanent homes for children impacted by the opioid epidemic.

“When Nevadans suffer, we don’t sit down and do nothing,” Ford said during a press conference on the settlements. “We actually hold accountable those who caused this suffering. We find ways to end the suffering, and we help those members of our Nevada family who need help.”

The settlements stem from litigation Ford announced in June 2019 against manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies. In March 2022, he announced his office settled with nearly all of them, resulting in over $1.1 billion in settlements.

Last week, Ford’s office signed onto another settlement with Purdue Pharma, receiving an additional $58 million over the next 10 years, Ford said. Other litigation is still active against pharmacy benefits managers, according to Mark Krueger, chief deputy attorney general and consumer counsel.

Of those settled funds, $462.2 million will go to the state’s Fund for a Resilient Nevada, and $370 million will go to cities and counties part of the One Nevada Agreement, an intrastate agreement made up of local governments to fund their own opioid-related programs.

Ford said during the press conference that his office isn’t responsible for determining who receives the funds. The Department of Health and Human Services determines who receives the opioid settlement funds, he said.

Dollars from the Fund for a Resilient Nevada will go toward programs designed to mitigate the opioid crisis. The Frontier Community Coalition, for instance, received $233,000 to address mental health care needs for children in Nevada’s rural communities, according to Ford.

Over $3.8 million from the fund was used to purchase mobile recovery units for three qualified services in rural Nevada, and $750,000 was awarded to the Nevada System of Higher Education to analyze samples from wastewater treatment centers and sewer collection facilities to gather data on drug use, Ford said.

Funding to find homes for children

At the organization Raise the Future in Nevada, settlement dollars are being used to help children who have been impacted by the opioid crisis find homes, according to Jessica Roe, vice president of programs.

The organization is currently looking for homes for 274 children in the state, she said.

“While public attention rightfully focuses on treatment and recovery for adults, we cannot afford to ignore the children left behind in the wake of addiction, who, without intervention, would become a new generation of addicts,” Roe said Tuesday.

Raise the Future in Nevada implements recovery communities in which a trained adoption professional uses a “focused recruitment model” to connect each child to permanent homes, whether an extended family member or a former foster parent, Roe said.

The opioid settlement dollars have gone to expanding access to specialized recruiters, support staff and family-finding efforts, including travel reviews and engagement for relatives who may adopt the child, Roe said.

Children of drug-addicted parents are eight times more likely to become addicted themselves, Roe said, citing the National Institutes on Health, and children who age out of foster care without permanent connections are more likely to experience homelessness, unemployment, early and unplanned pregnancy and substance abuse.

“When we provide stability and permanency to children affected by the opioid epidemic, we’re not just healing their trauma, we’re stopping the cycle,” Roe said.

Boys & Girls Clubs’ opioid prevention efforts

Andy Bischel, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada, said its organizations across the state received opioid settlement funds for its opioid prevention initiative called Smart Moves.

Bischel said the goal of the program is to increase knowledge and resiliency skills for 2,900 children between the ages of 10 and 15 in 34 communities each year. The clubs also prepare staff as responders to opioid intervention and referrals and provide families with opioid intervention and prevention resources.

The Boys & Girls Clubs has over 270 staff trained in early intervention of opioid overdose, and 27 youth centers are stocked with Narcan. Over 700 families have connected with clubs in their communities to learn more about keeping their kids safe from opioid exposure, Bischel said.

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.