Opioid Settlement Funding Requests Grant

Clarksburg is utilizing opioid settlement funds to combat the opioid crisis through various grants, focusing on five key areas: education, emergency services, prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation. With a history of high overdose rates, West Virginia is prioritizing these initiatives to address the epidemic. The funding is structured according to the West Virginia First Memorandum of Understanding, ensuring that resources are effectively allocated to support affected communities and organizations in their efforts to alleviate the crisis.

Clarksburg has received and will continue to receive funds from the settlement proceeds. As part of the settlement agreement, the City must manage those funds to help alleviate the opioid crisis and the harm that it has caused. The City may do this, in part, by providing grants to organizations.
The West Virginia First Memorandum of Understanding provides guidelines as to how to apply the settlement funds. Clarksburg summarizes and interprets that the settlement funds should be used for projects that further one or more of five categories.
Those categories are:

• Education
• Emergency Services
• Prevention
• Intervention
• Rehabilitation
• Opioid Settlement Background

Beginning in the 1990s, the increased prescribing of opioids caused an increase in addiction and overdoses across the country. Additionally, increases in overdoses caused by the use of heroin and synthetic opioids began in 2010. It is estimated that nearly 645,000 people nationwide died between 1999 and 2021 from an overdose involving any opioid. This increase in opioid addiction and overdoses has been referred to as an epidemic by the health care industry and others.
West Virginia has been particularly hard hit by the opioid epidemic. In 2014, West Virginia had an overdose death rate of 35.5 deaths per 100,000 people, almost 2.5 times the national average of 14.7 deaths per 100,000 people.
Part of the opioid crisis has been blamed on the pharmaceutical industry. These allegations have led to lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies by states across the nation. Such lawsuits have resulted in settlements totaling billions of dollars.
West Virginia, at the state and local level, brought various lawsuits against the pharmaceutical industry. These lawsuits have resulted in a number of settlements. The settlements have been structured according to the West Virginia First Memorandum of Understanding and funds are being distributed, in part, to local governments.

Eligibility

The applicant is a governmental entity or tax-exempt nonprofit entity.The City is generally classifying such purposes as: Education, Emergency Services; Prevention; Intervention; and Rehabilitation.