Brunswick to receive millions in opioid settlement funds. Here’s how they will be used.

Jamey Cross, Wilmington StarNews
·2 min read
The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners recently decided how it would start using millions of dollars in opioid settlement funds.
The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners recently decided how it would start using millions of dollars in opioid settlement funds.

Brunswick County officials are beginning to decide how more than $13 million in opioid settlement funds will be used to address the opioid epidemic in the county.

In 2021, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced a $26 billion settlement following negotiations with pharmaceutical companies, such as Cardinal, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Johnson & Johnson, for their role in the opioid epidemic.

North Carolina will see $750 million of that settlement money, 85% of which will go to local governments. Brunswick County is set to receive over $13.6 million in funds to be dispersed between 2022 and 2038.

At its regular meeting last week, the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners considered two options for long-term strategies for allocating these funds defined in the North Carolina Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Agreement.

More:Millions of opioid settlement money arriving locally: AG Josh Stein

Option A outlined that a local government could use the dollars to fund “evidence-based, high-impact strategies” that would address the epidemic locally.

Those strategies include:

  • Evidenced-based addiction treatment

  • Recovery support services

  • Recovery housing

  • Employment-related services

  • Early intervention programs

  • Naloxone distribution

  • Post-overdose response teams

  • Syringe service programs

  • Criminal justice diversion programs

  • Addiction treatment for incarcerated persons

  • Reentry program

Option B took a different approach, opting to fund a longer list of potential strategies, but requiring local governments to engage a diverse array of local stakeholders in a planning process.

By unanimous vote, the board adopted Option A.

Brunswick County Department of Social Services staff then recommended $169,703 of the settlement funds be used to support a full-time mental health/substance abuse clinician.

During the last fiscal year, staff said, 46 reports of babies born positive for drugs was reported to the department. More than 80 children entered foster care, and on average 165 children are in foster care in the county.

The primary reason custody petitions are filed in Brunswick County during the last fiscal year was opioid use, staff said. The clinician will provide care navigation, clinical assessments and crisis response for parents and children being served by the department.

The next regular meeting of the board of commissioners is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Feb. 6.

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Jamey Cross covers Brunswick County for the StarNews. Reach her at jbcross@gannett.com or message her on Twitter @jameybcross.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Brunswick County decides how to use first of opioid settlement funds