SLO and Paso Robles to participate in second round of national opioid settlements 

San Luis Obispo County agreed to enter a nationally negotiated litigation settlement to receive funds to combat the ever-present opioid epidemic—and local cities are now deciding whether they want to sign on.

On April 4, the SLO and Paso Robles city councils voted to participate in the proposed settlement with pharmaceutical companies. It's expected to bring more than $1 million and $500,000, respectively, to the cities, an estimate based on a $1.8 billion allocation to the state of California.

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• File Photo By Steve E. Miller
• ROUND TWO SLO County cities are signing onto a second round of national opioid litigation settlements, which will bring millions of dollars to the county to remediate the opioid epidemic.

The settlement funds, which will be disbursed directly to SLO County, are the second round of national opioid litigation payouts agreed to by local cities in recent years.

"While the city elected to participate in the prior agreements to ensure that funding was received locally (as did most local jurisdictions in the state), the city did not receive its allocated share of funds directly," Mark Amberg, a temporary assistant SLO city attorney, wrote in an email to New Times.

In November 2018, SLO County joined a national lawsuit against the opioid manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies. The county subsequently signed onto the first round of national settlements in January 2022.

An executive summary of that first settlement states that the distributors involved will have to pay $21 billion over 18 years, with the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson having to pay an additional $9 billion. About $16.5 million was earmarked for SLO County in that settlement, according to past New Times reporting.

This second round of settlements will mainly be targeting the big three pharmaceutical distributors CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart, along with manufacturers Allergan and Teva.

"The claims that were brought by the county were based on several calls of action, but one of the primary ones was the nuisance and the harm caused to the county as an organization," Deputy SLO County Counsel Brian Stack told New Times. "The additional expenditures that had to be spent on personnel costs because of opioid use disorder—those were the nature of the claims that we were bringing on behalf of individual parties."

Stack added that the settlement agreement has approved remediation uses that the county is required to abide by.

"It's intended to remediate overdoses, provide treatments to those suffering from opioid use disorder, ... maybe diversion from the criminal justice system for those suffering from opioid use disorder—things of that nature." Stack said. "There are existing programs that have been underway for a decade or more, along the lines of like a syringe exchange program, Narcan-related treatments, things like that. One of the goals of the settlement is to add to existing efforts."

Stack said he hoped that the settlement funds will allow the county to pursue more long-term programs, as opposed to grant-funded programs that have more time-limited horizons.

San Luis Obispo Bangers, an organization dedicated to the prevention of drug overdoses and the support of those suffering from substance dependence, told New Times that it hasn't been contacted by county or city officials or offered settlement money thus far.

"As far as the overdose crisis goes, it's been rough. It's been very traumatic for our participants because we've lost so many people," said Lois Petty, program manager at SLO Bangers. "It's because of failed drug policies that they're having to deal with this, which is depressing because it could be changed."

Petty said that she would like it if SLO Bangers were contacted by city officials regarding the settlement money.

"It would be really nice if we were invited to the table on some of the discussions in this county," Petty said, "because we're the ones saving lives and we're an important program in the county. Harm reduction should be regarded as something very, very important." Δ