Columbia, South Carolina – South Carolina’s latest share of national opioid settlement money is now moving from the courtroom toward communities, where state leaders and local service groups say the funds can help prevent addiction before it starts and support families already carrying the weight of the crisis.
Attorney General Alan Wilson joined several Upstate non-profit leaders Thursday morning to outline how the money will be used across prevention, treatment and recovery efforts.
Read also: Federal judge sends Greer man to more than a decade in federal prison after massive cocaine seizure
The discussion came about two weeks after Wilson announced that a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, had become legally effective. South Carolina is expected to receive nearly $73 million from that agreement, with the money directed into the South Carolina Opioid Recovery Fund, or SCORF.
More details about the settlement were released by the Attorney General’s Office, and information about the fund is available through the state’s SCORF website.
Wilson said the money must do more than respond to damage already done. He stressed that prevention will be a central part of the state’s strategy.
“As Benjamin Franklin said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so it’s important that a lot of this settlement money will go to prevent drug abuse in the first place,” Attorney General Wilson said.
“It will also go to treatment and recovery programs, but preventing people from using opioids or other drugs in the first place stops a lot of problems before they happen.”
The Thursday event brought together organizations that work directly with people and families affected by substance abuse, mental health challenges and addiction.
Among those joining Wilson were Phil Clark of Just Say Something in Greenville, Martine Helou of RIZE Prevention Inc., Jennifer Piver of Mental Health America Greenville Co., Tiffany Parker of NAMI Greenville, Angela Farmer of Behavioral Health Services of Pickens County, and Vicki Redding of the Anderson-Oconee-Pickens Mental Health Center.
Their presence underscored how the settlement money is expected to reach beyond state offices and into local programs that provide education, early intervention, counseling, treatment support and recovery resources.
Under SCORF, approved funding must be used for opioid abatement work within South Carolina and for the benefit of people living in the state.
The Purdue agreement is only one piece of a larger recovery effort. Through that settlement and others, South Carolina has now secured more than $256 million for opioid abatement programs statewide. Wilson also expects the state to receive more than $500 million more over the next 15 years.
Altogether, South Carolina’s opioid recovery total is expected to climb past three-quarters of a billion dollars, creating a long-term funding stream aimed at helping communities confront addiction, strengthen prevention and support recovery for years to come.
