By Eleanor McCrary, Louisville Courier Journal
Louisville Metro Government and Jefferson County will receive over $57 million in opioid settlement money over two decades, Mayor Craig Greenberg said in a press conference Thursday. The city is set to receive the first $7 million installment by the end of 2023.
The money will come from three pharmaceutical distributors – AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson – and one pharmaceutical maker, Janssen, which is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. There were also national settlements finalized last month with CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Teva and Allergan, according to a statement provided by the Mayor’s Office.
Of the 2,100 overdose deaths in Kentucky last year, 505 of them were from people located in the Louisville Metro area.
The $57 million is not enough to solve Louisville’s opioid crisis, but it will make an impact, said Connie Mendel, the interim chief health strategist for the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness.
“We’re going to save lives and we’re going to continue working with the community to determine the best way to spend the funds using evidence-based best practices,” she said at the press conference.
Here’s where the immediate money will go:
- $1.5 million will be allocated to organizations working in harm reduction. The money will go toward outreach efforts, education, overdose prevention, Narcan distribution and HIV and Hepatitis C screenings. Some other goals include expanding the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition to reach more members of the Latino community and the residents of West Louisville, according to a press release from the city.
- $250,000 will be invested in “collaborative projects,” which will include hiring an external evaluator to assess the effectiveness of how the money is being distributed and hiring an employee to manage a community advisory board.
- $5.3 million will be awarded through a public application process. The Mayor’s Office anticipates this will be launched in the fall. Proposals will be reviewed by an Opioid Settlement Distribution Advisory Board, whose members will be hired by Greenberg.
All expenditures will need to be approved by the Louisville Metro Council before funding can be awarded.