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Settlement Overview

Maryland expects to receive a substantial amount of funds from prescription opioid-related legal settlements in the coming years. Maryland’s Opioid Restitution Fund was established in 2019 to receive any funds received at the state level, whether designated for use at the state’s discretion or to be distributed to local subdivisions.

The Opioid Restitution Fund, settlement agreements, and additional agreements between the State of Maryland (such as the Janssen State Subdivision Agreement) place restrictions on the use of settlement funds in Maryland. The allocation of funds between the State of Maryland and local subdivisions varies by settlement.

Finalized Settlements (as of the 2023 fiscal year)

McKinsey & Company Settlement

About: Related to McKinsey & Company’s prescription opioid marketing practices.
Maryland’s share of national settlement: $12,084,129
Time frame: 4 years (starting in 2022)
Funds received to date: $11,050,093

Janssen Settlement (Johnson & Johnson and three prescription opioid distributors)

About: Related to prescription opioid distribution monitoring practices.
Maryland’s share of settlement: $395 million
Time frame: 18 years (starting in 2022)
Funds received to date: $60,429,878

Additional information: Allocation of Janssen Funds

An agreement between the State of Maryland and local subdivisions participating in the Janssen settlement (known as the “State-Subdivision Agreement”) describes how funding from this settlement will be distributed among Maryland subdivisions through the ORF. Funding under this agreement must comport with Exhibit E of the national settlement.

This agreement identifies four distinct funding streams, and it requires participating subdivisions to implement local abatement plans. A memo from the Maryland Attorney General’s office issued on November 7, 2022, provides additional detail regarding the allocation of these funds among local subdivisions.

State Allocation (15% of Janssen settlement funding): Funds that may be used at the discretion of the state for opioid abatement purposes.
- Subject to ORF Advisory Council recommendations.

Targeted Abatement Fund (45% of Janssen settlement funding): State-administered funding that is distributed to local subdivisions on a formula basis.
- Under this, eight “Qualifying Charter Counties” were identified that are eligible to receive funding within 30 days of the deposit of annual installments in the Targeted Abetment Subfund. The remaining 51 subdivisions must submit “Local Abatement Plans” and participate in a block grant program administered by the Maryland Department of Health to receive their portion of these funds.
  - The eight qualifying Charter Counties include Baltimore City* and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, and Prince George’s Counties.
- Not subject to ORF Advisory Council recommendations.

State Discretionary Abatement Fund (15% of Janssen settlement funding): Funds that may be used at the discretion of the state for opioid abatement purposes after considering grant applications from local subdivisions with a population of less than 10,000 people.
- Subject to ORF Advisory Council recommendations.

Direct Payments to Local Subdivisions (25% of Janssen settlement funding): These funds are provided directly to local subdivisions.
- Direct payments are not allocated through the ORF.
- Not subject to ORF Advisory Council recommendations.

*Note: Baltimore City is pursuing independent litigation against Johnson & Johnson and is not eligible to receive funding through Maryland’s settlement agreement. However, non-government organizations that operate in Baltimore City will be eligible to receive discretionary abatement funds for eligible uses through the Janssen settlement, which will be distributed through a competitive process.

Summary (as of the 2023 fiscal year)

Note: $13,540,117.51 was distributed directly to local qualifying subdivisions in Maryland through the Janssen settlement in the 2023 fiscal year by the settlement administrator, Brown Greer PLC. This represents 25 percent of the year-1 and year-2 payments through the Janssen settlement. Direct payments to local qualifying subdivisions are not deposited into the Opioid Restitution Fund. The total amount of Janssen settlement funds received in Maryland in the fiscal year was $60,429,878.75.