settlement funds. Source: Colorado Attorney General’s Office
On June 9, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced a final agreement with opioid manufacturers Teva and Allergan, along with retailers CVS and Walgreens, for $17.3 billion to be paid out across the country for their share of the responsibility for the current opioid epidemic.
Of the total, “Colorado will receive approximately $270 million over 15 years, which is in addition to the approximately $400+ million Colorado has begun receiving from prior opioid settlements,” according to Weiser’s office.
“Holding the companies that created and fueled the opioid crisis responsible continues to be a top priority for me and my team,” Weiser said, continuing, “Just like with previous settlements secured by our department and other attorneys general across the country, this money will go directly towards supporting the people and communities in Colorado who continue to battle the harms of drug addiction and misuse. Colorado’s framework for the investment of these funds, on a local and regional basis, is a national model and was recognized by the Johns Hopkins Public Health School as the top such system in the nation.” He was referring to the Colorado Opioid Abatement Council (COAC).
The State Department of Law worked with local governments to create the COAC in 2022 to fairly distribute the funds from opioid settlements and ensure compliance with all rules set out in settlement agreements to which Colorado was a party and/or beneficiary. The COAC works with the 19 Regional Opioid Abatement Councils around the state to distribute opioid settlement funds, which are largely required to be used for substance use disorder treatment, recovery, harm reduction, law enforcement, and prevention/education programs. The COAC consists of seven members appointed by the state and six members appointed by local governments.
Current members of the COAC include attorneys general from Douglas, Larimer, Weld, Moffat, Archuleta, La Plata, and San Luis Counties, as well as commissioners from Jefferson, Mesa, Alamosa, and Yuma Counties, along with the physician director of outpatient substance use disorder treatment at Denver Health.
Opioid settlement funds are distributed:
- 10% directly to the state;
- 20% directly to participating local governments;
- 60% directly to regions;
- 10% to specific abatement infrastructure projects.
The state will also receive approximately $2.5 million of a nationwide $102.5 million settlement of 42 states with Indivior Inc., the manufacturer of Suboxone, Weiser’s office announced on June 2. The suit that led up to that settlement arose from Indivior changing the form of Suboxone, used to treat opioid addiction to avoid or reduce withdrawal symptoms, from pill to film form. That change was viewed as anticompetitive.
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