Skip to content

Health Affairs Forefront (17 Aug 2026)

Highlighting unallowable opioid settlement spending research

Health Affairs Forefront (17 Aug 2026)
Published:

Ten Practices To Help Ensure Opioid Settlement Funds Heal Communities

4. Adopt lists of unallowable expenditures. Six states (California, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, South Carolina, and Virginia) have issued lists of items on which opioid settlement funds cannot be spent. These lists include things such as police equipment and incarceration costs. More states could issue such lists so that local decision makers are clear that using opioid settlement dollars to fund criminalization is off limits.
In the News - Opioid Policy Institute
Our work has appeared in numerous media outlets

Support Us

Watchdog Research and Advocacy Work

Contribute ❤️

Why Trust Us?

Jonathan Stoltman, PhD
Jonathan has worked as a researcher and advocate focusing on opioid addiction treatment and recovery since 2013. He completed his PhD in Lifespan Developmental Psychology from West Virginia University in 2019. Jonathan’s academic work has appeared in leading journals, conferences, and media outlets. He has been working on opioid settlement-related topics since 2020.

Why You Can Trust OPI

The Opioid Policy Institute exists to help communities improve their response to opioid-related death and disease. We provide evidence-based research and analysis that translates complex legal guidance and public health research into practical, usable insights. Our focus is on transparency, accountability, and community healing by increasing access to evidence-based prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery supports.

OPI’s analysis reflects a collaborative, team-based approach. We blend real-world and academic experience to help ensure our work is methodologically sound, grounded in evidence, and attentive to real-world implementation challenges. We focus on asking the right questions, surfacing tradeoffs, and helping communities build robust responses to addiction.

Opioid Policy Institute by Jonathan JK Stoltman, PhD is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Jonathan JK Stoltman (PhD)

Jonathan JK Stoltman (PhD)

Jonathan JK Stoltman, PhD is Director of the Opioid Policy Institute. They have been an addiction scientist since 2013. Their work has appeared in leading academic journals and in the media.

All articles

More in Opioid Settlement Money

See all

More from Jonathan JK Stoltman (PhD)

See all