Louisiana Gave Sheriffs 20% of Opioid Settlement Cash. An Investigation Followed the Money.

Louisiana stands alone among the 50 states in directing one-fifth of its opioid settlement payouts to sheriffs, creating a natural experiment in how law enforcement prioritizes spending when pharmaceutical litigation dollars flow with minimal oversight. A five-month investigation by KFF Health News and three Louisiana news outlets has produced the first detailed accounting of how those millions have been spent — and the findings raise serious questions about whether the money is reaching the addiction treatment and prevention programs the settlements were designed to fund.

The investigation, conducted in partnership with The Current, Gulf States Newsroom, and Verite News, contacted all 64 parish sheriffs in Louisiana. Of the 38 who reported expenditures, more than $8.1 million in opioid settlement cash has been spent. But according to a three-person review panel assembled by the news organizations, approximately 66% of that spending — $5.4 million — was deemed inappropriate uses of funds intended to abate the addiction crisis.

How Louisiana's Distribution Model Differs

In most states, opioid settlement funds flow through health departments or designated abatement authorities, with public health officials and community stakeholders helping determine how dollars are allocated. Louisiana took a different path, directing 20% of settlement payouts directly to sheriffs — the largest law enforcement carve-out nationwide.

The distinction matters because Louisiana sheriffs operate with unusual autonomy. They are elected officials who do not serve at the pleasure of other local authorities and maintain independent budgets. They are not required to proactively report spending to the public or any oversight body. For residents tracking how "blood money" from pharmaceutical companies is being used, the only options have been filing public records requests or waiting for official audits that may never come.

The KFF Health News investigation attempted to fill that accountability gap. Over five months, reporters filed public records requests and made repeated inquiries to all 64 sheriffs. Twenty sheriffs never responded, leaving approximately $10.7 million in allocated funds hidden from public view. Among the non-responders: the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, which covers an area just outside New Orleans and has been allotted the highest amount in the state — nearly $4 million through 2025.

Where the Money Went

Among sheriffs who did report spending, the largest category of expenditures was crime-fighting equipment. Surveillance cameras, drug detection products, and technology dominated the purchases. Smaller amounts funded mobile applications, educational programs for youth, and some addiction treatment within jails.

But a review panel consisting of a Louisiana resident in recovery who lost his son to a fentanyl overdose, an addiction medicine physician, and a public health policy analyst who has tracked settlement dollars since 2022 judged much of this spending as falling outside the spirit of the settlements. The panel deemed $5.4 million — about two-thirds of reported spending — inappropriate.

The expenditures the panel questioned included salaries and overtime pay for homicide detectives and officers conducting jail shakedowns to find contraband. While these activities relate to drug enforcement, they represent operational law enforcement costs rather than direct investment in addiction abatement.

Perhaps more troubling, nearly 60% of reported spending — $4.7 million — went to items or services that six other states explicitly list as "unallowable" expenditures of opioid settlement funds. These include technology to extract data from cellphones and automated external defibrillators, which are rarely needed in opioid overdoses. Louisiana does not maintain its own list of prohibited expenditures, though the state's Opioid Abatement Task Force has shared guidance from other states with sheriffs and parishes.

Sheriffs Who Got It Right

The investigation was not entirely critical. Nine sheriffs stood out for promising uses of settlement funds. All of their expenditures — totaling nearly $1.8 million — were deemed appropriate by the review panel and allowable in other states.

These sheriffs directed money toward providing addiction treatment in jail, training officers to respond to overdoses with naloxone, and increasing public awareness of addiction resources. Their approach aligned with evidence-based practices that address the addiction crisis directly rather than treating it primarily as a law enforcement problem.

The contrast highlights a fundamental tension in how communities respond to the opioid epidemic. Some jurisdictions view addiction through a criminal justice lens, emphasizing interdiction, arrest, and incarceration. Others adopt a public health approach, prioritizing treatment, harm reduction, and prevention. The Louisiana data suggests that when settlement dollars flow to sheriffs without clear guardrails, the criminal justice perspective tends to dominate spending decisions.

National Context and Ongoing Debates

The Louisiana findings arrive as debates over law enforcement's role in opioid settlement spending have intensified nationwide. Since settlement funds began flowing significantly in 2022, controversies have erupted in multiple states about whether police departments and sheriffs should receive any of the money — and if so, how much and with what strings attached.

Law enforcement agencies argue that seizing drugs and arresting dealers saves lives, and that these activities have burdened their budgets. Recovery advocates counter that funneling opioid settlement cash to police perpetuates the failed war on drugs, which criminalized addiction without reducing overdose deaths. With few federal or state guardrails on spending, decisions often reflect local political dynamics and community attitudes toward addiction.

The stakes are enormous. Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, finalized its $7.4 billion bankruptcy settlement this year. Various other settlements are scheduled to pay out for more than a decade. Nationwide, opioid manufacturers and distributors are paying more than $54 billion in restitution — a sum many view as a "pot of gold" for which government agencies, nonprofits, and private entities are competing.

The Louisiana experience offers a cautionary tale about what can happen when significant portions of that money flow to law enforcement without transparency requirements or spending guidelines tied to addiction abatement outcomes. While some sheriffs used funds appropriately, the majority of reported spending went to purposes that experts — and other states — consider outside the scope of what settlement dollars were intended to address.

The Transparency Gap

Perhaps the most significant finding of the investigation is not how money was spent, but how much remains hidden. With 20 of 64 sheriffs refusing to provide expenditure information, and no legal requirement for them to do so, Louisiana residents have no way of knowing how roughly $10.7 million in settlement funds allocated to those offices has been used.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, which received the largest allocation in the state, did not respond to more than a dozen calls and emails seeking information. For families who lost loved ones to opioid overdoses — families who view these settlements as "blood money" that should prevent future tragedies — such opacity is particularly painful.

Danny Bolner Jr., a Louisiana resident who lost his son to a fentanyl overdose in 2016 and is now raising his son's 14-year-old daughter, participated in the review panel that evaluated sheriff spending. His perspective as someone in recovery who has experienced the devastation of addiction firsthand informed the panel's judgment about what constitutes appropriate use of settlement funds.

The investigation's findings suggest that without stronger oversight mechanisms, the promise of opioid settlements — to fund treatment, prevention, and recovery services that save lives — may go unfulfilled in jurisdictions where accountability is voluntary rather than required.

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If you or someone you know is struggling with opioid addiction, help is available. Call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit SAMHSA's treatment locator to find help in your area.