How Wisconsin Plans To Spend $31 Million In Opioid Funds

Melissa Ingells/WPR

The state Department of Health Services is planning to funnel over $30 million toward programs and supplies aimed at combating the opioid epidemic across the state over the next two years.

Wisconsin received the money from a national settlement against drug manufacturers and distributors. The state Department of Health Services will get $14.5 million from the settlement this fiscal year and $16.5 million in fiscal year 2027.

DHS Secretary Kirsten Johnson said the money has “saved lives in Wisconsin.”

“We have made significant investments in every corner of the state to fill the gaps and connect communities with the resources people need, when and where they need them,” Johnson said in a statement. “We are committed to a plan that protects Wisconsinites from the deadly outcomes of opioid misuse.”

DHS will use the money to fund “lifesaving strategies to support prevention programming, reduce overdose deaths and the spread of infectious disease, increase access to treatment, and invest in recovery services,” according to a statement from the agency.

Overdose deaths are on the decline in the state, falling 42.5 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to DHS. Data from 2025 will be available later this year, according to an agency spokesperson.

“The work being done with opioid settlement funds is having a real impact,” Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement. “We must work to continue the decline in opioid-related overdose deaths in Wisconsin.”

In all, the state will get nearly $800 million in funding from the lawsuit through 2038. The money is being split between the state and 87 local governments in Wisconsin.

“The plan was shaped by public surveys, stakeholder listening sessions, roundtable discussions, and a rigorous review of program data and existing investments,” Michelle Haese, the director of substance use initiatives for DHS, said during a Thursday afternoon news conference.

Haese said the 2024 data is encouraging, but more work needs to be done to keep deaths down across the state.

“We still have a ways to go,” Haese said.

The highest total of funds over the next two years, $9 million, is going to “prevention, treatment, and recovery services” for the state’s 11 Tribal nations. Contracts are still being processed for that funding, according to the DHS website.

Haese said the funding for the Tribal nations is “intentionally flexible.”

“Tribes identify their own priority strategies across the continuum of care, which is truly the appropriate model to help support healthier outcomes for their Tribal nations,” Haese said.

The plan also includes $3.5 million for prevention programs, including for the distribution of Narcan and fentanyl and xylazine test strips.

Another $2 million will go toward grants to law enforcement agencies across Wisconsin for “education and training” on medications for opioid use disorder, which can help with withdrawal symptoms and reduce cravings for opioids.

Counties and Tribal nations will receive $6.5 million to help offset costs for residential treatment programs for people on Medicaid, according to the DHS website.

Vending machines distributing free Narcan will be placed at several sites throughout Milwaukee County. Evan Casey/WPR

Wisconsin Department of Health Services releases $31M plan to combat opioid epidemic  was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.