South Dakota is expecting a significant payout from recent opioid manufacturing settlements. Now, the question turns into how to best manage that money.
The total windfall following this settlement approaches $100 million for the state, though there are questions about how this money should be managed and divided.
Brenna Koedam is the chief of behavioral health within the South Dakota Department of Social Services. She said this money is broken into two pots.
“We want to make sure we’re spending those dollars wisely across all of South Dakota, right? A little bit more with that, they’re split into two," Koedam said. "There’s 70 percent of the funds South Dakota will be receiving over the next so many years is the state share. Then 30 percent of our funds is already divided out into local governing boards and government.”
That breaks down to $98.8 million through 2038. The projects anticipated to get the most funding have three criteria – statewide impact, problem solving, and innovative solutions.
“The year 2024 has been the year we received larger sums of money from the trustees, from the settlement," Koedam said. "We need to get these dollars out to the hands of South Dakota a little quicker than we have been.”
So far, some of the largest preventative expenditures have gone to Naloxone access, community grant programming, overdose follow-up programs, and prescription drug monitoring programs.
However, Koedam said resources are ineffective if nobody accesses them.
“South Dakota is a culture of if we have a problem, we’re going to take care of it ourselves," Koedam said. "It’s one of those things where we need to get out that prevention, intervention piece as well to let them know it’s okay to come in for help. To reduce that stigma. So, those are some of the things we already know we’re possibly going to see to identify gaps.”
A link to the opioid settlement dashboard can be found here.