Advocacy Alert: Contact Your Rep Regarding Opioid Settlement Funds

April 28, 2022

via Shatterproof

Opioid-involved overdoses have killed more than half a million people over the past two decades. This public health crisis has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, with some states reporting a 30% increase in opioid overdose deaths. But there is hope for a better future: the forthcoming state opioid settlement could help turn the tide.

As states are settling their legal cases against opioid manufacturers, pharmaceutical distributors, and pharmacies, they should be investing in evidence-based programs to prevent and treat opioid addiction.

But it is not a given that states will spend the money this way. For example, when states received tobacco settlement funds, only 2-3% of those dollars were spent on nicotine prevention and cessation programs.

Shatterproof has a way to contact your state elected officials to urge them to enact evidence-based guiding principles and develop a transparent process for allocating the opioid settlement dollars.

A reminder that BHAP has a tool for looking up who your elected representatives are across the United States, should you wish to contact them in other ways. Free to use regardless of membership, check out our Find Your Rep Tool.

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