Sonoma County to use opioid settlement funds on prevention education, substance use treatment

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors today unanimously approved a plan to use a portion of the expected $43 million settlement from opioid manufacturers and distributors on programs that treat addiction and educate the public about the dangers of the drug.

Sonoma County so far has received $12.7 million from a $26 billion national settlement with opioid defendants. The County is expected to collect an additional $31 million over the next 14 years, including $3.5 million this year. Under the terms of the settlement, the funds must be used on activities tied to ending, reducing or lessening the effects of the opioid crisis.

As with many counties, Sonoma County has been hit hard by the opioid crisis. In 2023, 76 percent of overdose deaths were opioid-related, and 90 percent of those deaths were fentanyl-involved. Sonoma County ranks 27^th out of 58 counties in California for drug overdose deaths per capita.

“The opioid crisis is complex, and these drugs have done significant harm to our community,” said Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Board of Supervisors. “The settlement funds will allow for a much-needed opportunity for expansion of extensive education, outreach, care and community services.”

Some of the approved activities that the settlement money will fund include:

• Harm reduction, prevention and education - $750,000
  • Adding one full-time counselor for a period of three years to support County-sponsored prevention programs focused on harm reduction, prevention and education. The position will also train and educate student volunteers, school faculty, parents and community members.
  • Supporting the expansion of harm reduction initiatives, including training, distribution and education for the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan and fentanyl test strips.
  • Implementing a youth outreach program focused on prevention, education, and harm reduction that will support events and activities, as well as the training of student volunteers to use and administer Narcan. The initiative also calls for increasing community education on substance and opioid use disorder
• Expansion of substance use disorder services - $15.4 million
  • Allocating $3.8 million to match a state grant for supporting the creation of a campus for individuals with severe mental illness as well as an adult residential substance use disorder treatment facility with a total of 64 sub-acute treatment beds. The County will be notified later this year as to if they are awarded this state grant.
  • Using $11.6 million to distribute through a community proposals process for the development and operation of new or expanded substance use disorder treatment, rehabilitation, prevention, education and harm reduction programs within Sonoma County.

Learn more about the opioid settlement funds here.

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Contact Information:
Matt Brown, Communications Specialist
paublicaffairs@sonoma-county.org
(707) 565-3040