OpioidSettlementTracker.com is solely owned and operated by Christine Minhee, J.D. She tracks three categories of opioid settlement-related data — opioid settlements reached by U.S. state and local governments, states’ opioid settlement decision-making processes, and states’ opioid settlement expenditures — to discover whether funds from the opioid litigation will indeed be spent to bolster the public health response to drug use.

Christine launched OpioidSettlementTracker.com in 2019 as an Open Society Foundations Soros Justice Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington School of Law, where she co-authored “The Cure for America’s Opioid Crisis? End the War on Drugs” (Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy).

No one pays her to maintain this website. Since her fellowship term ended in 2021, she has maintained this site pro bono and now uses the data she has amassed to assist community advocates, governments, and select non-profit organizations better understand the opioid settlement landscape. She specifically advocates for harm reduction uses of funds and is an Opioid Industry Documents Archive national advisory committee member.

Christine is a Dean’s Medal winner from UW Law, holds a B.A. from Stanford University, and is a graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course.

Christine@OpioidSettlementTracker.com

As featured by:

With presentations, podcasts, and projects for:

A note about usage: The information presented herein exists in the public domain, but the compilations themselves belong to me. I create my datasets for public, beneficial uses, so each of them sit under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which allows you to “remix, adapt, and build upon [the above] non-commercially” provided that two things occur: (1) I am credited in the process (“Christine Minhee, J.D., OpioidSettlementTracker.com”), and (2) you license whatever you produce using my help under identical terms. Happy to answer any questions over email. All rights reserved.

2024

• April — “Opioid settlement cash being used for existing programs and salaries, sparking complaints” (USA Today), “Why opioid settlement money is paying county employees’ salaries” (The Washington Post)

• March — webinar: “The 2024 Snapshot of States’ and Localities’ Opioid Settlement Spend” (CHESS Health)

• February — “As opioid deaths mount, Michigan governments sit on millions for intervention” (Bridge Michigan)

• January — “With opioid settlement dollars flooding Connecticut, what will equity and fairness look like?” (Connecticut Public Radio), “New report provides detailed insight into how CT cities are spending opioid settlement money” (Connecticut Public Radio), “Proposed bill would ensure $50 billion in opioid settlement funds goes toward addressing addiction” (Spectrum News), “Where will Georgia's $640M opioid settlement money go?” (WABE)

2023

• December — “The Year in Opioid Settlements: 5 Things You Need to Know” (KFF), “How we’re tracking the opioid settlement cash” (The Maine Monitor), “Nevada received more than $1 billion in opioid settlements. There’s little information about how it’s being spent.” (This is Reno), “Whitmer signs repeal of nation’s only immunity law that shielded drugmakers from legal liability” (Michigan Advance), podcast: “Following the Opioid Settlement Money: Interview with Christine Minhee” (Bankruptcy for Billionaires)

• November — “States are getting $50 billion in opioid cash. And it’s an issue in governor’s races” (KFF / NPR), “As opioid settlement money comes to CT, pain of personal loss confronts bureaucratic delays” (Connecticut Public Radio), authored piece: “How Are Opioid Settlement Funds Being Spent So Far?” (Health Affairs Forefront)

• October — “Legal opinion on opioid funds limits Idaho more than other states, health officials say” (Idaho Capital Sun), “Bill ending Michigan’s drug immunity law clears Senate committee” (Michigan Advance), “Lack of transparency concerns over billions in opioid settlement money distributions” (Spotlight on America, as syndicated on ABC, NBC, etc.), “Public transparency urged with $100 million opioid settlement in Nebraska” (KETV)

• September — “Opioid Settlement Funds: Will ‘Once-in-a-Generation’ Chance Be Wasted?” (Filter), legislative mention: “Sen. Markey, Rep. Trone, Colleagues Demand Biden Admin. Track $50 Billion in Opioid Settlement Money From Big Pharma, Ensure Used to Address Opioid Epidemic” (Senator Ed Markey)

• August — “Opioid Settlement Money Is Being Spent on Police Cars and Overtime” (The New York Times), “Money from opioid settlements is flowing to Massachusetts cities and towns” (Boston Globe), “‘Problematic’ use of opioid settlement money opposed by coalition of public health organizations” (Salon), resource: A Quick “How-To” Guide for Understanding Opioid Settlements State-to-State (National Association of County and City Health Officials)

• July — “Louisiana will get $325M from a major opioid settlement. Advocates want to know how it will be spent” (WWNO New Orleans Public Radio), “Millions of dollars to combat opioid abuse are coming to Idaho” (Idaho Capital Sun), panel: “Leveraging opioid settlement funds for harm reduction and public health” (National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO))

• June — “W.Va. Scores High In Opioid Settlement Money Transparency” (West Virginia Public Broadcasting), “Opioid Settlement Payouts to Localities Made Public for First Time” (KFF Health News), “Delaware County was the first in Pa. to sue drug companies for opioid crisis. Now it’s time to spend settlement money” (WHYY), “Where will the opioids settlement money go?” (Marketplace), “Maine will receive at least $235 million in settlements from companies accused of fueling the opioid crisis” (The Maine Monitor), “RI communities get millions in opioid settlement funds. But who knows how they're spending it?” (The Public’s Radio)

• May — “States are getting billions from opioid settlements. Now what?” (The Washington Post), “Walgreens to pay San Francisco $229 million over opioid crisis” (CBS News), “LOCALIZE IT: State and local governments figuring out how to use opioid settlement money” (Associated Press), “States aren’t being transparent about how they’re spending opioid settlement funds” (NPR 1A), “The Public Isn't So Confident in Effectiveness of Opioid Settlements” (Morning Consult)

• April — “Many States Not Transparent About Where Opioid Settlement Funding is Going” (Partnership to End Addiction)

• March — “Opioid Settlement Tracker Seeks Government Accountability,” (University of Washington School of Law), “Opioid crisis settlements have totaled over $50 billion. But how is that money being used?” (CBS News), “As states start to get opioid settlement cash, few are sharing how they spend it” (KFF / NPR), “Karma catches up with big pharma: Drug companies made to pay over $50bn to settle lawsuits over fueling opioid epidemic” (Daily Mail; my first tabloid mention 😅)

• February — “Will States and Counties Spend Their National Opioid Settlements Effectively?” (Penn LDI)

• January — “Victims of the Opioid Crisis Are Mostly 'Left Out' of $50+ Billion Settlement” (Vox NowThis News), “LOCALIZE IT: Naloxone access improving, but short of hopes” (The Independent)

2022

• December — “States are flush with opioid settlement money. We don’t know much about how they’ll spend it” (Fast Company), “Leveraging Settlement Funding to Change Systems” (National Overdose Prevention Leadership Summit)

• November — “States differ on how best to spend $26B from settlement in opioid cases” (KFF / NPR), “Local Officials Grapple With How to Spend Billions in Opioid Settlement Dollars” (Tradeoffs)

• October — “Alabama will get nearly $300 million in opioid settlements. How will we spend it?” (AL.com)

• September — “Advocates seek more say in how opioid settlements are spent” (Associated Press), Opioid Settlement Dollars: A Breakdown of the Process and What it Means for Your Work in Overdose Prevention (National Overdose Prevention Network)

• August — “Drug overdose deaths still on the rise, loved ones remembered during International Overdose Day in Milwaukee” (TMJ4)

• July — Accessing Opioid Settlement Funding for Harm Reduction Programs (National Harm Reduction Coalition, embedded above)

• June — “Want to know what’s happening in your state? This site has all the details” (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

• May — “$750M to start flowing in NC to fight opioid addiction” (WRAL), “In North Carolina, Faith and Evidence Face Off” (Treatment Magazine)

• April — Luncheon: Leveraging Opioid Settlements for Health (National Association of Counties), “Tension builds around best ways to spend NC’s opioid settlement money” (North Carolina Health News), “AIG, Chubb off hook for McKesson opioid defense costs” (Business Insurance)

• March — “$10B Purdue Opioid Settlement: What Coloradans Should Know,” “$26B Opioid Settlement Will Benefit Connecticut Municipalities,” “Purdue Opioid Settlement: What Ohioans Should Know” (Patch)

• February — “Major drug distributors and J&J finalize opioid settlement, launching nationwide funding” (The Washington Post), “Road to US opioid settlements has been long and complicated” (Agence France-Presse)

• January — Opioid Settlements and Litigation Across the States (National Association of Counties), “States Using Settlement Fund Legislation to Enhance Response to the Opioid Crisis” (Association of State and Territorial Health Officials)

2021

• December — Ohio’s Opioid Settlement: Proceeds and Plans for Impact (OSU Law’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Center)

• November — “Washington AG takes opioid distributors to court. Lawyer who tracks settlements weighs the risks” (NPR / KUOW), “Addressing the Opioid Crisis” (The Council of State Governments)

• October — Ohio Opioid Settlements: How To Spend $1 Billion Wisely (Harm Reduction Ohio)

• September — “Where will opioid settlement money go?” (Reuters)

• August — “#68: Tracking the Opioid Settlements (Christine Minhee)” (The Dr. Junkie Show)

• July — “U.S. state officials urge support for landmark $26 bln opioid settlement” (Reuters), “Johnson & Johnson to pay $5bn in landmark $26bn US opioid settlement” (The Guardian)

• June — “The Opioid Crisis Hit Schools Hard. Now They Want Drug Companies to Pay Up” (Education Week)

Why are you tracking opioid settlements?

It’s one thing for attorneys general to claim that states will spend their opioid settlements better than they did their big tobacco MSA winnings. It’s quite another to show exactly how they did or did not. And the importance of spending data related to public health crises — especially those exacerbated by government mismanagement — cannot be understated!

Reports detailing how states have apportioned their big tobacco MSA proceeds, e.g., Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look at the 1998 Tobacco Settlement 20 Years Later, and other datasets like it, have been indispensable to local government plaintiffs as they pursue lawsuits alongside their state attorneys general. From those reports, we know the following:

“In the current budget year, Fiscal Year 2020, the states will collect $27.2 billion from the settlement and taxes. But they will spend just 2.7% of it – $739.7 million – on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit.

Meanwhile, tobacco companies spend $9.1 billion a year – $1 million every hour – to market their deadly and addictive products. This means tobacco companies spend over $12 to market their products for every $1 the states spend to reduce tobacco use.”

If states misspend the settlements they win from pharmaceutical opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers the way they misspent their winnings from big tobacco, the local services and community treatment providers combatting Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) on the ground are likely to receive very, very little of it. Cities, counties, and tribal governments know this, so they sue to ensure their slice of the abatement funding pie.

Do you have a secret agenda?

I think that the war on drugs has failed, and I doubt that federal regulatory agencies are properly incentivized to prioritize the public’s health over the needs of powerful corporations as well as they can be. But otherwise, not really.

Where are you based?

Seattle, Washington.

So you’re a liberal.

Is this going somewhere?

Who pays you?

Since early 2021, no single entity pays me to run this site. I used my Open Society Foundations (OSF) Soros Justice Fellowship grant to launch this project in 2019. (“The opinions expressed herein are the author’s own and do not necessarily express the views of the Open Society Institute,” etc.) When the fellowship ended in 2021, I decided to keep the site going pro bono. I now pay rent by working as an opioid settlement expert and legal consultant to a diverse portfolio of non-profit organizations, associations of governments, and other “non-pharma” entities.

I knew that the salus populi suprema lex in your footer was an Illuminati thing.

It actually means “the welfare of the people is the supreme law.”

How do I reach you?

Email is the fastest way to get in touch: Christine@OpioidSettlementTracker.com. I’m also on LinkedIn.