Opioid Settlement Case Studies: Real Programs, Budgets & Outcomes
This library documents how communities across the country are using opioid settlement and abatement funds to expand prevention, treatment, recovery, and overdose prevention services. Each case study profiles a single program in a single jurisdiction and details its funding, partners, design, and outcomes, from same-day buprenorphine care in Burlington, Vermont, to a rural walk-in recovery center in Walker County, Alabama.
Use the filters to sort by settlement category, service type, population served, community type, state, and annual funding, then open any profile to review the budget, results, and lessons learned. Each model is presented as a reference point rather than a prescription, so you can adapt the elements that fit your community's needs and capacity.
Naloxone Distribution Mapped to Local Overdose Data
Alamance County, NC tracks every naloxone dose by zip code, sending staff with a wagon to motel corridors and placing vending machines where overdoses cluster.
Therapeutic Mentoring for Rural Middle and Early High School Boys
In Gunnison County, CO, eight to 12 boys per cycle meet weekly with a therapist and are matched with paid mentors who have their own recovery experience.
Student-Led Prevention on a Year-Round Rural Calendar
About 35 students in rural Graves County, KY plan and run a 12-month prevention calendar reaching four school systems, on a $90,200 state settlement award.
Practical Needs First at a Peer-Run Recovery Hub
622 people were referred to detox, treatment and sober living in one year by peers at a Jonesboro, AR drop-in center built on a two-year, $250,000 settlement award.
Low-Barrier Therapy Scholarships for Rural Recovery
231 people in four rural Colorado counties applied for therapy scholarships that pay $125 a session and ask for no diagnosis and no proof of a problem.
Preparing Physicians to Treat Addiction
A two-year, $199,929 grant surveyed about 1,480 Sedgwick County physicians, residents, and students on what blocks addiction care, built the training they named, and opened Wichita's first addiction fellowship.
Youth Mentoring as Substance Use Prevention
99% of referred children have an adverse experience. Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas is using a $95,000 state settlement award to expand a proven mentoring model into College Station, TX.
Funded Fellowships to Grow a Rural Behavioral Health Workforce
Western Colorado University pays tuition for 6 to 8 graduate fellows a year to run prevention projects in Gunnison County, CO, on a $216,600 settlement award over two years.
Police-Led Youth Drug Prevention Curriculum
27 of 28 Virginia Beach school resource officers now teach the LEAD drug prevention curriculum in local classrooms, funded entirely by a $140K settlement award.
Campus Naloxone Training and Peer Recovery Model
In two years, the University of Central Arkansas trained 874 people in overdose response through the ARORP naloxone hero program and served 294 through peer recovery on a $202K settlement award.
Tiered Housing Support for People Leaving Treatment
836 people leaving treatment moved into sober living homes across 20 Kansas counties through Mirror, Inc.'s weekly move-in assistance, all on a $280K award from 2024 to early 2026.
First Responder Confidential Support Program
Rhode Island police officers and their families made 10 to 12 confidential helpline calls a week within two months of launch, on $200K over two years.
Friendly PEERsuasion at Girls Inc.
Girls Inc. of Central Alabama trains eighth-grade girls as peer leaders to carry substance misuse prevention to younger students, on a $75K annual award.