LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The city of Louisville is working to decide where to spend millions of dollars in opioid settlement funds.

Metro Louisville is one of thousands of local governments across the country getting money from companies that made and distributed opioid painkillers the city says helped fuel the opioid epidemic and killed thousands.

Spectrum News 1 spoke with recovery community experts to see how they feel about the money and where they’d like to see it go to help the most people.

What You Need To Know

  • Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, appointed an advisory board that will oversee the distribution of funds from a national opioid settlement

  • Louisville Metro Government says Jefferson County is set to get more than $57 million in direct payment.

  • Louisville is one of thousands of local governments across the country getting money from companies that made and distributed opioid painkillers the city says helped fuel the opioid epidemic and killed thousands

  • The city says the board will be guided by fice principals including using evidence to guide spending and developing a transparent, inclusive decision-making process

Louisville Metro Government said Jefferson County is set to get more than $57 million in direct payments. The city has already received a $7.2 million payment for the first two years. The Mayor already approved roughly $2 million for proposals focused on harm reduction and saving lives. 

Those settlement payments actually started in 2022 and will keep coming during the 18-year lifetime of the settlements.

“I think it’s really exciting and I’m very hopeful about what that can mean for our city. The opioid epidemic has just devastated our community and so any assistance that we can get to boost resources, boost treatment for folks in our community, is essential,” said Courtney Weisshaupt, director of men’s program services at the Healing Place, a recovery program based in downtown Louisville.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, appointed a nine-person advisory board to oversee the distribution of the settlement money. The city said the mission is to increase opportunities for everyone by investing in evidence-based solutions for substance use prevention and address the needs of people who have the greatest barriers to accessing treatment and recovery services.

“I think it will be important for the board when considering how to allocate the funds, to not discount the folks in the community who are already doing the work ad also when considering where it’s going, to ensure that they take a multi-faceted approach to distributing the funds,” Weisshaupt shared.

Daniel Harbey, the program director at the Louisville Recovery Community Connection, said he hoped the money would go directly to those in need. “I am hopeful that the money is useful inside the community,” he said.

“I’m in recovery myself.” Harbey explained. “I would love for more resources to become, not more resources but the resource, have more accessibility to people that are impoverished, that grew up in poverty.”

Weisshaupt said she hoped the money would go to places where it could impact the most people possible.

“I think treatment and recovery efforts is a place where I’d like to see this money go. It’s important to keep treatment accessible to folks in our community to keep the barriers low so that more people can access services,” she explained.

The city said the board will be guided by five principals, including using evidence to guide spending and developing a transparent, inclusive decision-making process. 

They said the opioid distribution settlement advisory board is expected to put out a request for proposals for the rest of the $7.2 million dollars next month for year one and two of the settlement.

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