By Aneri Pattani
Opioid settlement money shouldn’t be inherently political. It’s not the results of a legislation handed by Congress nor an edit to the state price range. It’s not taxpayer cash. Relatively, it’s coming from well being care firms that had been sued for fueling the opioid disaster with prescription painkillers.
However like most {dollars} meant to handle public well being crises, settlement money has nonetheless became a political problem.
Gubernatorial candidates in a number of states are clashing over who will get bragging rights for the funds — which complete greater than $50 billion and are being distributed to state and native governments over practically 20 years. Among the many candidates are attorneys normal who pursued the lawsuits that produced the payouts. And so they’re desperate to remind the general public who introduced residence the bacon.
“Scoring cash on your constituency nearly at all times performs properly,” mentioned Stephen Voss, an affiliate professor of political science on the College of Kentucky. It “is much more compelling and unifying a political argument than taking a place on one thing like abortion,” for which you danger alienating somebody it doesn’t matter what you say.
In Kentucky, Lawyer Normal Daniel Cameron, the Republican candidate for governor, needs sole credit score for the tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} his state is receiving to battle the opioid epidemic. In a put up on X, previously generally known as Twitter, he wrote that his opponent, former lawyer normal and present Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, “filed a whole lot of lawsuits throughout his time [in] workplace, however on this race, there is just one one that has truly delivered {dollars} to battle the opioid epidemic, and it’s not him.”
Nonetheless, Beshear filed 9 opioid lawsuits throughout his tenure as lawyer normal, a number of of which led to the present payouts. At a January information convention, Beshear defended his position: “That’s the place these {dollars} are coming from — circumstances that I filed, and I personally argued lots of them in courtroom.”
Polls point out that Beshear leads Cameron forward of the Nov. 7 election.
Christine Minhee, founding father of OpioidSettlementTracker.com, who’s intently following how attorneys normal deal with the cash nationwide, mentioned voters seemingly don’t know that the opioid settlements are nationwide offers crafted by a coalition of attorneys normal and personal legal professionals. So when one candidate claims credit score for the cash, his constituents could consider “he’s the only hero in all of this.”
Candidates in different states are touting their settlement credentials, too. North Carolina Lawyer Normal Josh Stein, a Democrat, lists securing opioid settlement funds on the high of the “accomplishments” part of his 2024 gubernatorial marketing campaign web site. West Virginia Lawyer Normal Patrick Morrisey, a Republican gubernatorial candidate for 2024, has repeatedly boasted of securing the “highest per capita settlements within the nation” in information conferences and on social media and his marketing campaign web site.
In Louisiana, Lawyer Normal Jeff Landry, a Republican who was not too long ago elected governor, ran on a tough-on-crime platform, with endorsements from sheriffs and prosecutors. As lawyer normal, he led negotiations on dividing opioid settlement funds throughout the state, leading to an settlement to ship 80% to parish governments and 20% to sheriffs’ departments — the most important direct allocation to legislation enforcement within the nation.
It’s a standard joke that AG stands for “aspiring governor,” and officers in that position usually use large authorized circumstances to advance their political careers. Analysis reveals that attorneys normal who take part in multistate litigation — like that which led to the opioid settlements and the tobacco settlement earlier than it — are extra more likely to run for governor or senator.
However for some advocates and other people personally affected by the opioid epidemic, this injection of politics raises considerations about how settlement {dollars} are being spent, who’s making the choices, and whether or not the cash will really handle the general public well being disaster. Final 12 months, greater than 100,000 Individuals died of drug overdoses.
Common folks “don’t actually care concerning the bragging rights as a lot as they care concerning the means to make use of that funding to enhance and save lives,” mentioned Shameka Parrish-Wright, director of VOCAL-KY, an advocacy group that champions investments in housing and well being care.
“What I see in my state is a whole lot of press conferences and information items,” mentioned Parrish-Wright, a Democrat who’s lively in native politics. “However what performs out doesn’t get to the folks” — particularly these deeply affected by habit.
For instance, when Beshear celebrated a lower within the state’s overdose deaths, his announcement neglected the rising deaths amongst Black Kentuckians, Parrish-Wright mentioned. And when Cameron’s appointee to the state’s opioid abatement advisory fee introduced that $42 million of settlement funds had been being thought-about to analysis ibogaine — a psychedelic drug that has proven potential to deal with habit — Parrish-Wright’s first thought was “most poor folks can’t afford that.” To acquire it, folks usually should journey in a foreign country.
The ibogaine announcement precipitated extra controversy. It’s an experimental drug, and, if authorized, the $42 million allocation could be the single-largest funding from the fee, which is housed in Cameron’s company. The Every day Beast reported {that a} billionaire Republican donor backing Cameron’s gubernatorial marketing campaign stands to reap large earnings from the drug’s growth.
Neither Cameron’s workplace nor his marketing campaign responded to requests for remark.
Beshear’s workplace declined an interview request however referred KFF Well being Information to his earlier public statements, wherein he criticized the potential funding in ibogaine. He has prompt Cameron — whose marketing campaign has emphasised assist for police — shouldn’t be placing his cash the place his mouth is.
“For those who solely present $1 million to legislation enforcement and 42 to pharma, it doesn’t seem to be you’re backing the blue. It looks like you’re backing Large Pharma,” Beshear mentioned at a Might information convention.
He additionally mentioned his two appointees to the fee had been caught off guard by the general public announcement on ibogaine, regardless of their position overseeing settlement funds.
Minhee, founding father of OpioidSettlementTracker.com, mentioned she’s involved that mixing politics with settlement funds may lead to ineffective investments nationwide.
“If a few of this cash goes to be politicized to advance careers of attorneys normal who assist the battle on medicine, then that’s actually utilizing monies received by dying to feed into extra dying,” she mentioned.
Parrish-Wright, of VOCAL-KY, mentioned she worries that candidates — and a few voters — will overlook concerning the significance of the cash as soon as ballots are forged.
“We can not let it fade after the election cycle,” she mentioned.
Her answer relies upon partly on politics. She’s on the poll herself Nov. 7, for a seat on Louisville’s Metro Council. If she wins, she mentioned, she intends to maintain the settlement within the public dialog.
KFF Well being Information is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is among the core working packages at KFF—an unbiased supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. Study extra about KFF.
