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For Immediate Release
March 29, 2023?
Contact: Elizabeth Goodsitt/Jennifer Miller 608-266-1683
DHS Submits Plan to Legislature's Joint Committee on Finance on How to Use $8 Million in Opioid Settlement Funds
?Money is part of the $400 million award the state receives annually from settlements with pharmaceutical companies
Today, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) submitted its plan to use nearly $8 million in opioid settlement funds to the Legislature?s Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) to support prevention, harm reduction, and capital projects to address the state?s opioid crisis. The money is part of the $400 million the state receives in annual installments through an agreement with major pharmaceutical firms. $130 million of the total amount goes to the state, while the remainder is provided to counties and municipalities.
2021 Wis. Act 57 requires DHS to submit a plan for the anticipated settlement funds to the JFC every year. While the plan submitted in 2022 was created through information gathered at listening sessions across the state, this year DHS conducted a survey to gauge priorities for this plan and over 4,100 people responded.
?As with last year?s proposal, this plan prioritizes what people with lived experiences, their families and friends, and our partners told us is needed to address the state?s opioid crisis,? said Paul Krupski, DHS director of opioid initiatives. ?People who responded to our survey ranked the programs and services they see as priorities, and we?re eager to have the committee?s approval of them.?
View the entire news release.
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