Opioids in Michigan

Without a central reporting requirement, Michiganders can be left in the dark at how their communities are using funds to combat the drug crisis. Bridge’s investigation is the most exhaustive to date.

Farmington Hills has used about $120,000 from an opioid lawsuit settlement to repay itself for past drug-fighting costs. Almost all other cities are using the money to help current users or future drug-fighting efforts.

Use Bridge’s database to search how opioid settlement funds are being allocated by community in Michigan. Most of the money is being spent on recovery, drug courts, defibrillators and the like.

Michigan doesn’t track how cities are spending their share of a landmark lawsuit settlement with opioid manufacturers. A Bridge investigation finds 4 in 10 haven’t spent money yet on the crisis that has upended thousands of lives.

Proposed payouts in Kroger opioid settlement money vary from over $2 million for Wayne County — to $10.39 for Union Charter Township. The latest calculations reveal the complexity of what seems a windfall for the state in tackling the drug crisis.

A new program has success targeting twin crises: The worker shortage and opioid crisis, challenging old notions about the reliability of in-recovery workers. The state is paying attention.