How Illinois plans to spend $760M from opioid settlement

Gov. JB Pritzker announced Friday a new state office that will spend the funds over the next 18 years.

By Lynnea Domienik
How Illinois plans to spend $760M from opioid settlement
Signs are displayed at a tent during a health event on June 26, 2021, in Charleston, W.Va. The effort to hold drug companies, pharmacies and distributors accountable for their role in the opioid crisis has led to a whirlwind of legal activity around the United States. New legal settlements are being reached practically every week to provide governments money to fight the crisis, and in some cases funds for medicines to reverse overdoses or to help with treatment. (AP Photo/John Raby, File) Associated Press
How Illinois plans to spend $760M from opioid settlement
Signs are displayed at a tent during a health event on June 26, 2021, in Charleston, W.Va. The effort to hold drug companies, pharmacies and distributors accountable for their role in the opioid crisis has led to a whirlwind of legal activity around the United States. New legal settlements are being reached practically every week to provide governments money to fight the crisis, and in some cases funds for medicines to reverse overdoses or to help with treatment. (AP Photo/John Raby, File) Associated Press

How Illinois plans to spend $760M from opioid settlement

Gov. JB Pritzker announced Friday a new state office that will spend the funds over the next 18 years.

By Lynnea Domienik
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Illinois officials use hundreds of millions of dollars from a national opioid settlement with three major drug distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson to fund treatment and prevention programs across the state. The governor says counties and municipalities with the most urgent need will be prioritized.

Reset checks in with people who work on preventing overdoses and treating Opioid Use Disorder in Illinois for their reaction and analysis.

GUESTS: Lee Rusch, director of the West Side Heroin and Opioid Task Force

Luther Syas, director of outreach for the West Side Heroin and Opioid Task Force

Dave Jimenez, director of Community Outreach Intervention Projects at University of Illinois Chicago