How can opioid settlement money be spent?

Apr 23, 2023

Read the official list of uses for Ohio’s $1 billion opioid settlement

Ohio has made opioid settlements so far worth $1 billion to be paid over 18 years. Additional settlements will increase that total to more than $1.5 billion.

How will the money be spent?

The “OneOhio” settlement agreement divides control of spending three ways:

55% to a new private 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation.
30% directly to Ohio counties, cities, villages and townships. (Ohio’s 110 local health departments and 50 mental health boards will not receive money.)
15% to the State of Ohio. (Most of this will go to attorney’s fees.)

Local governments are already receiving and spending their 30% share. Ditto for the state and its 15% share.

However, you’ve probably read about the foundation’s disastrous launch. It hasn’t spent a penny.

Rather than creating a real non-profit foundation, local elected officials created a government board that they serve on and has excluded people impacted by opioids. Harm Reduction Ohio has sued the government board for acting illegally and in secretly, a case you can read about elsewhere on this web site.

The “OneOhio Recovery Foundation” has yet to secure 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service., as required by the settlement agreement. So far, it has spent about $1 million on itself, including more than $500,000 on legal fees, but not a penny on the opioid problem.

The purpose of this post, though, is to provide an opportunity for the public to read the 15-page document that details how money can be spent.

That document can be found here and below.