Afternoon Briefing: Illinois’ opioid settlement fund slow to distribute millions

Good afternoon, Chicago.

Legal settlements with prescription painkiller manufacturers, distributors and sellers have put Illinois in line for some $1.3 billion in payouts intended to help in fighting an opioid crisis that’s still killing tens of thousands of Americans every year. The payouts stem from multistate agreements with major drug distributors, manufacturers and household names such as CVS, Walgreens, and Johnson and Johnson. Nationwide, more than $50 billion is expected from the settlements, according to KFF Health News, which tracks the money.

But so far, the flow of settlement money to organizations in Illinois has remained barely a trickle. A complex bureaucratic process for distributing the funds has put only a tiny fraction of the money into the hands of organizations dealing with the crisis.

Here’s what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit chicagotribune.com/latest-headlines and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices.

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