New national opioid settlement money is coming to Cumberland County and the City of Fayetteville — and officials want to know where residents think it should be spent.
Starting this fiscal year, the county will receive almost $899,000 from a $1.37 billion settlement between grocery chain Kroger and the states in which the retail company or its subsidiaries operate, including in North Carolina. The money is in addition to the almost $31 million the county will see over the next 18 years from earlier national opioid settlements.
The City of Fayetteville, specifically, will receive over $105,000 from the Kroger settlement on top of the nearly $3,608,000 from past national opioid settlements.
The funds come as North Carolina saw 4,339 overdose deaths in 2022, the most current data available on the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ dashboard. In Cumberland County, 214 people died from an overdose in 2021, the most recent county data available.
The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners and the county Department of Public Health will host a town hall on Sept. 10 at the Cumberland County Headquarters Library to seek feedback from the community on how the extra funds should be spent. They will also update residents on the progress of programs funded through earlier settlements.
Where is all this money coming from?
The most recent national opioid settlement with Kroger will bring just over $40 million to North Carolina, paid out to the state between 2024 and 2034. The settlement is currently going through the national sign-on process, with all 100 North Carolina counties and applicable municipalities, including the City of Fayetteville, signing on.
Between 2022 and 2038, the county is expected to receive over $30,00,000 in total funding; the money comes from a handful of national opioid settlements and bankruptcies in the last four years. The companies involved range from drug manufacturer Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, to drug distributors to pharmacies like CVS to marketing companies advertising opioids.
For more details about each settlement, visit the opioid settlement page on The More Powerful Campaign website.
Current county and city opioid settlement fund spending
Most of the money North Carolina received from national opioid settlements is being passed down to counties and municipalities in the state. From the first wave of payments, local governments received 85% of the funds. They saw 84.62% from the second wave and will see the same percentage of funds from the Kroger settlement.
Local governments signed several agreements with the state to receive funding; these agreements specify the allocation percentage of the settlement funds, how they should be spent and how that spending should be reported to the state and public.
County and city funds from the opioid settlements can be spent in two ways. Governments can choose from a list of “high-impact strategies” like distributing naloxone, an overdose-reversing drug, or evidence-based substance- use treatment. Or they can undergo a “strategic planning process” to inform the selection of high-impact strategies or other long-term strategies like information campaigns.
The county received slightly over $9 million of the $31,612,941 total expected from all the national opioid settlements. According to county spending authorization documents, Cumberland County chose to fund high-impact strategies, including:
- $650,000 to build a Cumberland-Fayetteville Opioid Response Team (C-FORT) Recovery Resource Center and $50,000 for C-FORT operations
- $35,000 to purchase Narcan, a nasal spray that reverses opioid overdose symptoms
- $35,000 for a syringe service program that includes “syringe exchange, harm reduction supplies, naloxone distribution and connecting clients to prevention, treatment, recovery support, behavioral healthcare, primary healthcare, or other services or supports for individuals with opioid use disorder”
- $200,000 to the Carolina Treatment Center for recovery support services, recovery housing support, employment or vocational service links and re-entry services
- $200,000 for Family Drug Treatment Court for criminal justice diversion programs
- Over $447,000 will go to Camp Rockfish and Retreat and Mid-Carolina Regional Council. Camp Rockfish and Retreat will create a camp for youth with “problematic use of drugs, mental health conditions or Adverse Childhood Experiences.” Mid-Carolina Regional Council will provide training for “caregivers of youth with parental substance use” on identifying substances, “mental health first aid” and other topics, according to a Cumberland County Board of Commissioners agenda.
- $199,990 for “recovery support services, criminal justice diversion programs and re-entry services” from the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition.
- $200,000 for Myrover-Reese Fellowship Homes, Inc. for “recovery support services and recovery housing support.”
The City of Fayetteville also gave $202,000 to the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition to support recovery support services, recovery housing, employment-related services, early intervention and re-entry services.
How to make your voice heard
The town hall will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Pate Room of the Headquarters Library on Maiden Lane. For those unable to attend this town hall, there will be three more — one in September and two in early October at various locations across the county. Exact dates, times and locations are on the Department of Public Health’s opioid settlement page.
Residents can also complete a survey through Oct. 9 to provide input on how the opioid settlement funds should be spent.
If you or a loved one are looking for resources for an opioid use disorder, see Alliance Health’s website or call 800-510-9132. To find a drug take-back box near you, see More Powerful NC website’s “Take Back Your Drugs” page. For access to naloxone, see Naloxone Saves’ website. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services lists syringe exchange programs on its website.
For more information on North Carolina’s share of national opioid settlements, visit CORE-NC’s website or the More Powerful NC website.
CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the CityView News Fund.
