Attorney General Alan Wilson, non-profit groups, explain how opioid settlement funds will help South Carolinians

(GREENVILLE, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and leaders of non-profit groups in the Upstate explained Thursday morning how the state’s share of opioid settlement money will be used to prevent drug abuse and addiction and help families already affected by it.

Attorney General Wilson announced two weeks ago that a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, has become legally effective. South Carolina will receive almost $73 million, which will go into the South Carolina Opioid Relief Fund, or SCORF.

“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.”

Joining Attorney General Wilson were representatives from Upstate non-profit groups that provide prevention and treatment services, including Phil Clark, Executive Director of Just Say Something in Greenville, Martine Helou, Executive Director of RIZE Prevention Inc., Jennifer Piver, Executive Director of Mental Health America Greenville Co., Tiffany Parker, Executive Director of NAMI Greenville, Angela Farmer, Executive Director of Behavioral Health Services of Pickens County, and Vicki Redding, Executive Director of the Anderson-Oconee-Pickens Mental Health Center.

From the Purdue settlement and others, South Carolina has now secured more than $256 million in funds for opioid abatement programs throughout the state, and Attorney General Wilson expects the state to receive more than $500 million in additional funds over the next 15 years. In total, Attorney General Wilson’s opioid recovery for the state of South Carolina will exceed more than three-quarters of a billion dollars.