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.
Residential Treatment Where Mothers and Infants Stay Together
16 women and 16 infants can live together at a renovated Roanoke, VA house, where settlement funds keep care going after Medicaid authorization ends.
Dedicated Prison Social Workers From Screening to Reentry
1,928 people in 12 Virginia prisons were served in 2025-2026 by settlement-funded social workers who carry substance use care from screening through release.
Fort Lyon: Recovery Housing for Coloradans on a Former Army Post and VA Campus
464 residents lived at The Fort in 2025, a peer-led campus in Bent County, CO where people can stay up to two years to rebuild IDs, income and housing.
EMBARK: In-Home Care Coordination for Pregnant Mothers
One coordinator now reaches 17 Kentucky counties, up from four, linking pregnant mothers to prenatal care, treatment and the rent that keeps a baby home.
Prenatal Care and Addiction Medicine on One Team
10 to 12 pregnant clients at a time get prenatal care, addiction medicine and peer support from one team in Reno, Nevada, on $445K a year in settlement funds.
Walk-In Recovery Centers Across Seven Rural Counties
More than 6,000 people walked into a Lee County, KY recovery center since 2022, and the model now runs across seven rural counties on $865K in settlement awards.
HEART: Treatment That Follows People Into Custody
37 people in a northwest Virginia regional jail keep their opioid medication from the day they are booked, with counseling, peer support and groups inside.
Paid Therapy for a Rural County’s Uninsured and Underinsured Residents
144 Gunnison County, Colorado residents received scholarships for up to 10 paid therapy sessions in 2025, each choosing a therapist from a network of 57 local clinicians.
EMPOWERED: Care From Pregnancy to Two Years Postpartum
117 women in Las Vegas received counseling, peer support, and care coordination through pregnancy and two years postpartum in 2025, supported by upward of $1 million in settlement funds since July 2023.
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.
Converting a State Building into Rural Treatment Beds
A former state office building near Booneville, AR reopened as a licensed 24-bed residential treatment center on a one-time $738,903 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.
Rural Treatment Court Built on Existing County Capacity
Danville and Pittsylvania County, VA run a five-phase treatment court on $209,000 a year, using the court, probation and clinic capacity they already had.
Peer Support Inside the Public Defender's Office
Six settlement-funded peer staff, four direct-service peers plus a partially funded lead and supervisor, work inside Maryland's public defender offices, moving clients from jail into vetted treatment under attorney-client privilege.
Peer Support Across Jails, Probation, and Recovery Courts
227 justice-involved people in New Hampshire got peer support in 2025 from staff who had lived recovery and incarceration, on $287K a year in settlement funds.
Peer-Led Jail Recovery with Free Outpatient Handoff
80% of participants in a rural northwest Kansas jail class were still in recovery a year later, on $500,000 in opioid settlement awards across two cycles.
Shared Overdose Response Team for Small Police Agencies
Pulaski County, AR shares one overdose team with five small police agencies, pairing a source investigator with a peer, on a $369,824 settlement award.
Same-Day Buprenorphine Care for Justice-Involved Adults
A walk-in clinic in Burlington, VT reached 170 new patients in year two, more than triple its target, on $150,000 a year to each of the two partner agencies.
Police and Peer Post-Overdose Response Team
In Hot Springs, AR, a peer specialist and a police investigator visit overdose survivors together, reaching people in the hours when they are most open to help.
The Recovery Den: Rural Walk-In Center
Peer mentors in Walker County, AL logged 2,498 service visits in 2025 at a walk-in recovery center that runs on a $150K settlement award, no appointment needed.