How Is PA Spending Its $2.2 Billion Opioid Settlement?

Pennsylvania is due to receive $2.2 billion dollars from the national opioid settlements, and a new database shows the public where that money is going.

Starting in 2021, a national, bipartisan coalition of attorneys general, including now-PA Governor Josh Shapiro, reached settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors who had directly contributed to the opioid addiction crisis.

That year, over 5,000 Pennsylvanians died from unintended drug overdoses. That number has since dropped, falling to about 3,300 in 2024.

The opioid settlement payments, which began in 2022 and are slated to continue until 2038, are supposed to fund opioid overdose prevention, treatment, harm reduction, recovery support and other programs. This includes a broad array of interventions in PA, from