Apply the Principles

Implementation Tools

If you’re looking for specific guidance on how to incorporate the Principles, these supplemental documents can help assess your state or locality’s planning and help with spending allocation decisions.

Ten Indicators to Assess the Readiness of State and Local Governments to Receive the Opioid Settlement Funds

These Indicators can be used by policymakers and advocates to help jurisdictions assess their overall readiness and guide their next steps. The Indicators are drawn from the Principles for the Use of Funds From the Opioid Litigation. This document explains each of them in detail and provides specific actions jurisdictions can take in order to align with each indicator.

Primer on Spending Funds From the Opioid Litigation: a Guide for State and Local Decision Makers

The settlements encourage states and localities to choose projects that are part of these nine strategies, although jurisdictions are given significant discretion how they spend the funds. Want to know how jurisdictions should prioritize programs for funding? This Primer provides background information on each of the nine core abatement strategies, includes considerations for funding and implementation, and provides links to summaries of evidence-based programs in each strategy.

Breaking Down the July 2021 Proposed Multi-district Litigation Settlement Agreement

On July 21, 2021, a bipartisan group of seven state attorneys general announced a proposed settlement agreement with the three largest opioid distributors and the manufacturer Johnson & Johnson over the lawsuits filed against them regarding their role in the opioid epidemic. If states and local jurisdictions join the agreement, the settlement could provide them with up to $24 billion over the next 18 years. Explore how the agreement tracks with the Principles.

The Principles for Community Advocates

The original Principles were create for state and local policy makers. But the Principles can also be used to help with community level advocacy. This document, created with our partners at Vital Strategies, can help local advocacy efforts to help ensure dollars are spent to save lives.

Drugs at Work: What Employers Need to Know

This website provides employers with several resources offering more insight into the effects of opioid use on the workplace and how investing in care for employees can be beneficial for both workers and the company.

Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center

This federal website “provides communities, clinicians, policy-makers and others with the information and tools to incorporate evidence-based practices into their communities or clinical settings.”

Highlighted Downloads

Principles for the Use of Funds From the Opioid Litigation

Download

Primer on Spending Funds from the Opioid Litigation: A Guide for State and Local Decision Makers

Download

Ten Indicators to Assess the Readiness of State and Local Governments to Receive the Opioid Settlement Funds

Download