Opioid grants total $22.7 million

On May 23 the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority (OAA) approved $22,672,333 in grants to communities across Virginia for opioid abatement and remediation efforts.

“These grants will help communities across the commonwealth develop and expand programs to prevent opioid addiction, to provide treatment, and to support people in recovery,” said Senator Todd Pillion, Chair of the OAA Board of Directors. “Virginia fought back against companies that were pushing their highly addictive drugs on vulnerable people, and now we are making sure those settlement funds are bring used to save lives, support families, and restore communities.”

The list of awards from this most recent round of applications is attached.

 

In June 2023 the OAA announced its first major round of awards to cities and counties, totaling nearly $23 million, followed by a subsequent announcement of funds for state agencies totaling nearly $11 million. The total amount of awards made to date exceeds

$56 million.

Virginia expects to receive a total of approximately $1.1 billion from litigation against manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies that were alleged to have contributed to the opioid crisis. Payments from these settlements and bankruptcies began in 2022 and are expected to conclude by 2041.

The OAA was established by the General Assembly in 2021 to oversee the distribution of 55% of Virginia’s total settlement funds. Of the remainder, 30% is distributed directly to cities and counties, and the remaining 15% to the commonwealth. The use of funds is restricted by court orders and state statute, with the restrictions requiring that funds be used for opioid abatement and remediation efforts.

In November 2023, the OAA received the prestigious “Award for Excellence in the Application of the Opioid Litigation Principles” from a coalition of national public health organizations led by the faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.