The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
KFF Health News worked with three Louisiana news outlets — The Current, Gulf States Newsroom, and Verite News — to ask all 64 sheriffs in the state how they’ve spent their opioid settlement funds. The responses were shared and presented in a data table for all four newsrooms to use. Reporters then conducted individual reporting for separate articles.
Every state is receiving opioid settlement payouts from companies accused of flooding the nation with prescription painkillers and fueling overdose deaths. But only one state is directing 20% of those payouts to sheriffs — the largest carve-out for law enforcement nationwide.
This story also ran on Stat. It can be republished for free.
Opioid manufacturers and distributors are paying more than $54 billion in restitution to settle lawsuits about their role in the overdose epidemic, with little oversight on how the money is spent. We’re tracking how state and local governments use — or misuse — the cash.
In Louisiana, sheriffs are elected, do not serve at the pleasure of another local official, and have independent budgets. They’re also not required to proactively report to the public or another authority how they spend billions in opioid settlement cash.
Short of filing public records requests or waiting for official audits, that has made it difficult for the average person to track the windfall. Many consider the dollars to be “blood money” and believe the spirit of the settlements is to spend it all on abating the addiction crisis.
KFF Health News worked with three Louisiana news outlets — The Current, Gulf States Newsroom, and Verite News — to track those dollars. The newsrooms contacted all 64 Louisiana sheriffs over five months, often filing public records requests, to produce the first detailed accounting of millions spent.
Nationwide, debates over law enforcement’s role with opioid settlement money have been underway since the funds began flowing significantly in 2022 and have continued as the pool of money has grown. Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, finalized its $7.4 billion bankruptcy this year, and various settlements are set to pay out for an additional decade-plus.
Since the earliest days, these dollars have been viewed across government agencies and the private sector as a pot of gold for which many are vying.
Law enforcement agencies are part of this scrum. They say seizing drugs and arresting dealers save lives, but that costs money and the addiction crisis has burdened their budgets. However, many recovery advocates staunchly oppose any opioid cash flowing to what they see as the failed war on drugs.
Since there are few guardrails on how the money is spent, decisions often come down to how local politicians and residents see addiction and what type of approach they believe will be effective in combating it.
Louisiana provides a natural experiment to see which priorities prevail when money is handed directly to sheriffs.
First Public Look at How Louisiana Sheriffs Have Spent Over $8M in Opioid Settlement Cash
In Louisiana, sheriffs receive 20% of the state's opioid settlement cash — the largest carve-out for law enforcement nationwide. But since sheriffs are not required to proactively report how they spend the money, it's hard to track. Reporters from KFF Health News, The Current, Gulf States Newsroom, and Verite News contacted all 64 sheriffs to uncover spending details.
<br><br>
Click column headings to sort the table.
