WIS attended IMPH and DAODAS' press conferences announcing their new report: South Carolina’s Guide to Approved Uses for Investing Opioid Settlement Funds.

A new report released Wednesday details how South Carolina wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars the state is receiving from a major, nationwide opioid settlement.

More than $360 million is headed to the state over the next 18 years, part of an overall $26 billion agreement paid out by three pharmaceutical drug distributors, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, and one manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson.

Per an agreement, 92% of South Carolina’s portion must be spent on combatting the opioid epidemic in the state.

“With the lives at stake in this drug crisis, we really cannot afford to squander the settlement funds,” South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services Director Sara Goldsby said.

Read the full article by Mary Green here.