President Biden has spoken out forcefully for establishing mandatory drug treatment for addicts—and keeping those struggling with substance abuse out of prisons and jails altogether. Addressing a town hall meeting in Ohio, one of the epicenters of the opioid epidemic, the president also advocated for post-incarceration services including housing and job training, in addition to drug treatment. The statement suggests that Biden will pursue this controversial approach as he gears up his drug policy team at the White House to confront a drug overdose epidemic that last year killed a record 93,000 Americans. Oregon has already decriminalized hard drugs in favor of paying a small fine and entering voluntary treatment, but the program has so far not been successful.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the proposed $26 billion opioid settlement announced this week between states and major players in the opioid industry, public health officials and advocacy organizations are pushing for state governments to sign on to a set of principles for how the money should be used. Instead of flowing to a state’s general fund, they want the money set aside in a dedicated fund for addiction services. They fear a repeat of the $206 billion tobacco settlement of 1998, in which most of the money was siphoned off to balance state budgets and never used for smoking cessation and abatement programs. The opioid settlement does contain provisions for using the money for addiction services, but it’s not clear if it enforceable. Some states, including New York, have already passed laws guaranteeing the money will be used for that purpose.
And finally, there may be another settlement in the opioid litigation on the horizon: fifteen states that had previously blocked a bankruptcy plan by OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma have now abandoned the fight, opening the way to a final agreement. The bankruptcy would allow the $4.2 billion settlement to go forward, but absolve the company’s billionaire founding Sackler family of any responsibility and shield it from any further liabilities. Thousands of other opioid cases are still pending against opioid manufacturers and pharmacy chains.