fbpx
Connect with us

Mississippi Today

Millions in opioid settlement dollars are coming to Mississippi. Here’s what you need to know.

Published

on

mississippitoday.org – Violet Jira and Henry Larweh, KFF Health News – 2024-08-14 06:00:00

Millions in opioid settlement dollars are coming to Mississippi. Here’s what you need to know.

Hundreds of Mississippians die every year from opioid overdoses, an epidemic that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands more nationwide. In a series of historic settlement agreements, pharmaceutical companies agreed to pay about $50 billion over 18 years for their role in fueling the crisis — and Mississippi has signed on to be part of the settlements.

How the state and local governments choose to use this cash windfall in the years ahead will significantly shape Mississippi’s policies toward addiction treatment and prevention — as well as health care in general.

We’ve broken down the key things you need to know about the settlements.

Where Is the Money Going?

Mississippi has begun to receive portions of the approximately $203 million it expects from national settlements with three pharmaceutical distributors and one opioid manufacturer. The state also expects an estimated additional $167 million from national opioid settlements with other companies.

The money is split into three buckets: 15% goes to the state government; another 15% to counties and cities, which will be distributed based on population and how heavily the crisis has affected those communities; and the remaining 70% to an opioid abatement fund that will be controlled by the state Legislature.

!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();

Policymakers and local officials are starting to develop plans for how to use these dollars. The opioid agreements set out guidelines for spending, nine core opioid abatement strategies — which consist of activities like broadening access to naloxone and medications for opioid use disorder, as well as investing in prevention efforts.

Who Is Controlling the Money in Mississippi?

Both the state government’s share and the abatement fund will be under the direct control of the Legislature, which will ultimately decide how that money gets spent. The Legislature, through an appropriations act, has set up a special account for all of the funds it controls.

“We were encouraged by the fact that they set (a fund) up, because that’s the first necessary step,” said Michelle Williams, chief of staff for state Lynn Fitch. Advocates across the nation have recommended that states create special funds for the dollars they receive before making any decisions about how to use them.

Kolandra Rucker, a paramedic and clinical education specialist for AMR Central Mississippi, works with Narcan at AMR in Jackson, Miss., on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi

To date, though, Mississippi’s state and abatement shares have been tapped only to cover attorneys fees from the opioid litigations, according to Williams. Across the country, many jurisdictions have been slow to spend their funds.

The attorney general’s office, which helped negotiate the settlements on behalf of Mississippi, has already signaled some priorities for the money. One is to establish a Center for Addiction Medicine at the of Mississippi Medical Center — an idea mentioned in an agreement the office reached with cities and counties. The creation and operation of this center would be supported by the abatement fund — the largest pot of settlement dollars. Lawmakers have not widely discussed the proposal, however, and confusion surrounds plan specifics.

According to Williams, the concept arose from conversations with UMMC and members of the Legislature. The attorney general’s office provided a document that explains why this new center should receive millions in settlement funds.

That’s where any cohesion in Mississippi’s planning seems to begin and end. UMMC, for instance, declined to confirm any communication with the attorney general’s office about the idea of a new center or answer any questions about the proposal. The system already operates a center that focuses on addiction research and treatment.

According to Leah Smith, deputy chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, his office intends to meet with Mississippi state leaders and advocates “to establish a plan to be adopted by the Legislature when it next meets in January,” although the timeline is uncertain.

The Mississippi Association of Supervisors, whose purpose is to “ and educate county officials and others on topics and issues important to county governments,” reported not having developed a plan to support their members as they prepare to spend the money. By contrast, the Arkansas Municipal League and the Association of Arkansas Counties has created a joint fund that helps local governments there coordinate opioid abatement activities.

Mike Moore — the former Mississippi attorney general who spearheaded the landmark national tobacco master settlement agreement and has been involved in opioid litigation across several states — has concerns about the disjointed approach in Mississippi.

“If you’re just going to send checks out to every little city and county, I don’t know what encourages collaboration there,” he said.

How Has the Money Been Spent So Far?

Every eligible Mississippi county will receive a portion of the approximately $54 million set aside for localities. Choctaw, Montgomery, Sharkey, Webster, and Wilkinson counties were ineligible.

Dozens of cities and towns throughout the state will also be receiving funds, though the amount varies drastically. Gulfport is expected to receive nearly $4.5 million through 2038, the most of any locality in the state. During that same time, Diamondhead will receive about $92.

These payments may increase as the state finalizes settlements with additional companies.

!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();

Gulfport is the state’s second-largest city, with a population of roughly 73,000. The coastal city has received at least $430,000 so far. Decisions about how the money is spent will be made by the City Council.

Gulfport councilmember Ella Holmes-Hines would like to see the money go to community organizations that serve people struggling with addiction and law enforcement officer training.

“The problem is how and why you got the money, so therefore you have to address the problem,” she said.

So far the city has used only $4,000, to fund a local Thanksgiving and Christmas meal-delivery program last year.

Few counties reported having concrete plans.

Harrison County Board of Supervisors President Marlin Ladner, for instance, said spending decisions may be made this budget season. Harrison County, where Gulfport is located, led the state in suspected overdose deaths and naloxone administrations in 2022. Similarly, Jackson County — which had the state’s highest number of suspected overdose deaths per 100,000 residents in 2023 — has yet to budget the funds, according to the County Administrator’s office.

At the other end of the state, the DeSoto County Board of Supervisors has committed the $116,000 it has received so far to fund a crisis center.

“It’s for immediate crisis — for if someone has an addiction problem or mental illness, or needs to for counseling,” said Lee Caldwell, Board of Supervisors president. “DeSoto County likes to be first, but we don’t want to be first in opioid deaths. We don’t want to be first in the challenges that it brings to families because of addiction.”

What Are the Advocates Saying?

As the decision-makers wrestle with their next steps, people who see Mississippi’s opioid crisis firsthand say the need continues to be very real.

“My friends are dying in the streets. We have overdoses every day,” said Jason McCarty, executive director of the Mississippi Harm Reduction Initiative, a community organization that supports people struggling with and recovering from opioid addictions.

Part of the he and other advocates face is keeping the state’s problem in focus.

Provisional data from The Mississippi Opioid and Heroin Data Collaborative indicates that at least 1,257 people died of suspected opioid-related causes from 2020 to 2023 — an average of 314 people a year. That’s lower than the toll in many other places, he said, but not reflective of what’s happening.

“Mississippi doesn’t look like it actually has a problem compared to other states. But I know that we do,” McCarty said.

Some parts of the state have been hit harder than others. The coastal region stands out, in recent years representing an outsize portion of Mississippi’s suspected overdose deaths, emergency medical services naloxone administrations, and drug-related arrests.

!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();

Grassroots organizations, McCarty said, should be first in line to receive settlement resources. The harm reduction initiative distributes naloxone, operates a recovery community center in Jackson, and does educational programming with Mississippi youth.

But in his experience, that’s not how the distribution of resources works.

“I feel like money keeps going to these big organizations who are really not doing grassroots work,” McCarty said.

McCarty and other advocates said it’s difficult to find out what’s going on with settlement funds. He said no one has contacted his organization for input on how the state should spend the money.

Jody Couch founded Inside Out Outreach, which works to provide faith-based support for the homeless population in Gulfport, many of whom have addictions. She believes the money could be best spent addressing the lack of housing and other resources in her area.

“That could help with the cost of getting treatment and for it to be local,” she said.

Couch has been contacted for input by at least one local official in Gulfport as the city prepares to decide how to spend its share of the opioid settlement funds.

She believes what the opioid settlement funds need most is oversight to ensure accountability about how the money is spent in her community.

Jody Couch, an Inside Out Outreach board member, poses for her portrait outside the organization in Gulfport, Miss., Friday, July 12, 2024. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

But the state has not implemented public reporting requirements. Localities do not have to say how much money they have received or how it has been spent. There are also no requirements dictating how localities must use the money — they could use it to fill potholes.

Similar concerns about misuse are playing out nationally, but at the same time, there’s hope that the money can do good.

“History will be written. We’ll find out how well they do,” said Moore, the former Mississippi attorney general. “But my gut tells me that they’re going to be pretty serious about the money being spent in the right way.”

KFF Health News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani contributed to this .

This report was produced through a collaboration between KFF Health News and Mississippi Today.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1875

Published

on

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-11-02 07:00:00

Nov. 2, 1875

Pictured here are U.S. Sen. Hiram Revels of Mississippi, left, with six Black members of the U.S. House, Ben J.S. Turner of Alabama, Josiah T. Walls of Florida, Jefferson H. Long of Georgia, and Robert C. De Large, Joseph H. Rainy and R. Brown Elliot, all of South Carolina. Credit: Library of

The first Mississippi Plan, which included violence against Black Americans to keep them from , resulted in huge victories for white Democrats across the

A year earlier, the Republican Party had carried a majority of the votes, and many Black had been elected to office. In the wake of those victories, white leagues arose to Republican rule and began to use widespread violence and fraud to recapture control of the state. 

Over several days in September 1875, about 50 Black Mississippians were killed along with white supporters, a school teacher who worked with the Black community in Clinton. 

The governor asked President Ulysses Grant to intervene, but he decided against intervening, and the violence and fraud continued. Other Southern states soon copied the Mississippi plan. 

John R. Lynch, the last Black congressman for Mississippi until the 1986 election of Mike Espy, wrote: “It was a well-known fact that in 1875 nearly every Democratic club in the State was converted into an armed military company.” 

A federal grand jury concluded: “Fraud, intimidation, and violence perpetrated at the last election is without a parallel in the annals of history.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

Mississippi Today’s NewsMatch Campaign is Here: Support Journalism that Strengthens Mississippi

Published

on

mississippitoday.org – Mary Margaret White – 2024-11-01 12:34:00

High-quality journalism like ours depends on reader support; without it, we simply couldn’t exist. That’s why we’re proud to join the NewsMatch movement, a national initiative aimed at raising $50 million for nonprofit newsrooms that serve communities like ours here in Mississippi, where access to reliable information has often been limited.

In a time when trusted journalists and sources are disappearing, we believe the stakes couldn’t be higher. Without on-the-ground, trustworthy reporting, civic engagement suffers, accountability falters and corruption often goes unaddressed. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Here at Mississippi Today we act as watchdogs, holding those in power accountable, and as storytellers, giving a platform to voices that have been ignored for too long. And we’re committed to keeping our stories for everyone because information should be accessible when it’s needed most.

Why NewsMatch and Why Now?

This year’s NewsMatch campaign runs from November 1 through December 31, giving us a special to make each dollar you give go even further. Through matching funds provided by local foundations like the Maddox Foundation, and national funders like the MacArthur Foundation, the Rural Partner Fund and the Hewlett Foundation, your gift will be dollar for dollar up to $1,000. Plus, if 100 new donors join us, we’ll unlock an additional $2,000 in , bringing us even closer to our goal. Boiled down: your donation goes four times as far.

Every dollar raised strengthens our ability to serve you with fact-based journalism on issues that impact your everyday —whether it’s covering local election issues or reporting on decisions affecting schools, safety and economic growth in Mississippi. Your support makes it possible for us to stay rooted in the community, offering nuanced perspectives that help Mississippians understand and engage with what’s happening around them.

Special Event: “Freedom of the Press: Southern Challenges, National Impact”

As part of the campaign, we’re to host a special virtual event, “ of the Press: Southern Challenges, National Impact.” Join Deep South Today newsrooms Mississippi Today and Verite News, along with national experts on press freedom, for an in-depth discussion on the unique challenges facing journalists in the Deep South. This one-hour will explore the critical role local newsrooms play in holding power accountable, highlighting recent restrictions on press freedom such as Louisiana’s “25- law,” which affects journalists’ ability to report vital news.

We’ll examine what’s at stake if local newsrooms lose press freedoms and will discuss how you, as members of the public, can help protect it. This event is open to Mississippi Today and Verite News members as a special thank-you for supporting local journalism and standing with us in this mission. Donate today to RSVP!

How You Can Help

Make Your Gift Today

Together, let’s ensure Mississippi has the robust, independent journalism it needs to thrive. Your support fuels our ability to expose the truth, elevate marginalized stories and build a more informed Mississippi.

Thank you for believing in the power of journalism to strengthen the communities we love—not only during election season but year-round. With your help, we’ll keep Mississippi informed, engaged and connected for generations to come.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

Hinds County loses fight over control of jail

Published

on

mississippitoday.org – Mina Corpuz – 2024-11-01 12:57:00

The sheriff and Board of Supervisors have lost an appeal to prevent control of its jail by a court-appointed receiver and an injunction that orders the county to address unconstitutional conditions in the facility.   

Two members from a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with decisions by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves to appoint a receiver to oversee day-to-day jail operations and keep parts of a previous consent decree in place to fix constitutional violations, a failure to protect detainees from harm. 

However, the appeals court called the new injunction “overly broad” in one area and is asking Reeves to reevaluate the scope of the receivership.

The injunction retained provisions relating to sexual assault, but the appeals court found the provisions were tied to general risk of violence at the jail, rather than specific concerns about the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The court reversed those points of the injunction and remanded them to the district court so the provisions can be

The court also found that the receiver should not have authority over budgeting and staff salaries for the Raymond Detention Center, which could be seen as “federal intrusion into RDC’s budget” – especially if the receivership has no end date. 

Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Robert Graham was not immediately available for comment Friday. Sheriff Tyree Jones declined to comment because he has not yet read the entire court opinion. 

In 2016, the Department of Justice sued Hinds County alleging a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conditions in four of its detention facilities. The county and DOJ entered a consent decree with stipulated changes to make for the jail system, which people facing trial. 

“But the decree did not resolve the dispute; to the contrary, a yearslong battle ensued in the district court as to whether and to what extent the County was complying with the consent decree,” the appeals court wrote.  

This prompted Reeves to hold the county in contempt of court twice in 2022. 

The county argued it was doing its best to comply with the consent decree and spending millions to fix the jail. One of the they offered was building a new jail, which is now under construction in

The county had a to further prove itself during three weeks of hearings held in February 2022. Focuses included the of seven detainees in 2021 from assaults and suicide and issues with staffing, contraband, old and use of force. 

Seeing partial compliance by the county, in April 2022 Reeves dismissed the consent decree and issued a new, shorter injunction focused on the jail and removed some provisions from the decree.

But Reeves didn’t see improvement from there. In July 2022, he ordered receivership and wrote that it was needed because of an ongoing risk of unconstitutional harm to jail detainees and staff. 

The county pushed back against federal oversight and filed an appeal, arguing that there isn’t sufficient evidence to show that there are current and ongoing constitutional violations at the jail and that the county has acted with deliberate indifference. 

Days before the appointed receiver was set to take control of the jail at the beginning of 2023, the 5th Circuit Court ordered a stay to halt that receiver’s work. The new injunction ordered by Reeves was also stayed, and a three-person jail monitoring team that had been in place for years also was ordered to stop work. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Continue Reading

Trending