Opioid deal nets $6M for combating drug abuse

RUTHERFORDTON — Rutherford County is poised to receive its portion of a settlement from a pharmaceutical lawsuit earmarked for combating the ongoing opioid crisis. Locally, the county is set to receive $6 million over the next 18 years, its portion from the state’s $750 million take from the $26 billion settlement.

Last month, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein announced the final approval of the $26 billion opioid agreement with the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors, Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen, as well as Johnson & Johnson, over the companies’ role in creating and fueling the nationwide opioid crisis. Money will start flowing to state and local governments in the second quarter of 2022, according to the N.C. Department of Justice (NCDOJ).

“North Carolina will receive $750 million, most of which will go straight to county governments to make a difference where it is needed the most,” Stein recently said in an Op-Ed provided to the Courier (See Op-Ed on page A4). “Now is the time for Rutherford County to work with its local leaders and residents to decide on proven, effective strategies to address the opioid epidemic.”

The Board of County Commissioners will be tasked with overseeing the money locally. However, a number of local stakeholders will have a role at how the funds should be directed. They include: United Way, Community Health Council, Foothills Health District, Department of Social Services, the Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, Partners Behavioral Health, Dogwood Health Trust, EMS, Rutherford Regional Hospital, and others.

“While we are glad to see that Rutherford County will receive approximately $6 million in settlement funds to help us address the opioid epidemic locally, the distribution of these funds over an 18 year timeframe will require the county to intuitively invest and leverage these funds in the most strategic, meaningful and impactful way with the funds available with each yearly distribution,” said County Manager Steve Garrison. “The development of critical partnerships and to receive public input and insight will be our priority as we continue to move forward.”

More than 20,000 North Carolinians have died from opioid overdoses. Thousands more are battling addiction, a ripple effect that hurts many more than the user.

Over eight North Carolinians died each day from a drug overdose in 2020, as reported by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS).

In 2020, at least 20 people died from an overdose across Rutherford County, Stein said.

DSS has firsthand knowledge of the crisis through its expanding caseload.

“Our experience in Rutherford County is not unique,” said Kevin Marino, director of the county’s DSS. “There are economic, family, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual drivers. The best way to address the issue is to create a recovery ecology addressing access to treatment that works, a safe place to heal from trauma, resources to address housing, food, jobs, and other basic needs. What would we want for ourselves? Once you have that in your mind… then we have to love our neighbor by doing that for them.”

Travis Smith, executive director of Blue Ridge Hope, said the county’s drug problem began long ago, a coping strategy caused by a loss of identity and economic turmoil.

“When our textile industry went away, the identity of multiple generations of people in this area was lost,” Smith said. “That work was meaningful and helped to raise generations of families in this area. People have to cope — no matter what they experience, and the loss of industry in this area left a hole and a need for many individuals. Sometimes desperation leads to negative coping strategies, and often drugs are the choice. As substance use has increased, it has become part of the culture of many families and within our communities. Behavior, both positive and negative, is learned and passed through generations.”

Rutherford’s stakeholders, those with a vested interest and adversely impacted by the opioid crisis, will be called on to help find solutions.

“Locally, we know that the opioid epidemic has torn families apart and continues to place additional burdens on our human services, behavioral health, substance addiction treatment, law enforcement, EMS, local health care providers and judicial system ser vices community partners,” Garrison said. “These settlement funds will enhance our local efforts to support treatment, recovery, harm reduction and other life-saving programs and services for our citizens.”

A treatment or rehab facility ranks high on the wish list for Rutherford County.

“We would like to see greater access for people needing and desiring detox or rehab implemented with the funds,” Smith said. “Often, individuals need an assessment in order to get the process star ted. For some individuals, this can be a barrier, especially when coupled with a lack of proper transportation and sometimes even the need for medical clearance, payment, or insurance issues. What is needed for the process may feel impossible and completely inaccessible for some individuals.”

Fifty-two states and territories have signed onto the agreement as well as thousands of local governments across the country. In North Carolina, all 100 counties as well as 47 municipalities have signed the agreement. Eighty-five% of those funds will go directly to North Carolina’s local communities to support treatment, recovery, harm reduction, and other strategies to address the opioid epidemic. The balance (15%) will go to the state for the same purposes.

Critics fear the settlement with the pharmaceutical companies might evolve into a similar situation as the 1999 settlement with tobacco companies that led to the creation of the Golden LEAF Foundation.

To date, Golden LEAF has received over $706 million in payments as a result of the tobacco settlement. Since it began making grants in 2001, Golden LEAF has awarded 667 grants totaling over $246 million to nonprofits and government entities throughout North Carolina. By 2025, it is anticipated the foundation will have received its full share, or approximately $2.3 billion, of payments resulting from the tobacco settlement.

However, critics of the Foundation have said some of the large sums go toward projects or causes unrelated to tobacco use and smoking cessation, for example.

N.C. Rep. Wayne Sasser, R-Stanly, a retired pharmacist who co-chairs the House Health Appropriations Committee, told the Carolina Journal last month he understands why people may be suspicious of this opioid settlement.

I have preached that from day one,” Sasser said. “I said, ‘we are not going to do what we did with the tobacco settlement. We didn’t stop anybody from smoking. We didn’t cure any cancer,’ ” Sasser said “If we do the same with the opioid settlement money as they did with the tobacco settlement deal, I’ll vote against it myself. We are going to save some lives.”

The opioid settlement money will be handled with more accountability and transparency in mind, per the guidelines set in place by the North Carolina Memorandum of Agreement (NC MOA).

It’s likely Rutherford County will also look to par tner with surrounding counties for a regional approach when possible. Area counties might want to pool their resources, since the individual appropriations vary. For example, Cleveland County is slated to get more than $ 1 million more than Rutherford. At $13.4 million, Burke County is set to get more than twice as much as Rutherford. Conversely, McDowell is getting $3.7 million and Polk receiving only $1.7 million.

The allocation formula for the NC MOA is derived directly from the allocation model developed at the national level by experts retained by the outside counsel for local governments. The national allocation model is based on three factors: opioid use disorder, overdose deaths and amount of opioids.