Address to the National Opioid Settlement Conference (June 18, 2026)

Thank you to The Steadman Group for this first-of-its-kind National Opioid Settlement Conference and for bringing together incredible speakers and attendees from across the country who are committed to addressing one of the greatest public health challenges of our time.

I am honored to join you here – whether you come as a provider, advocate, policymaker, or as someone directly impacted by this crisis. Each of you has played an important role in transforming settlement agreements into meaningful action in communities across the nation.

This conference is grounded in evidence, lived experience, equity, stewardship, accountability, and collaboration.[1] Those are exactly the values we need in this moment and the values that have guided Colorado’s approach to opioid settlement implementation.

As we gather here to open this conference, I want to discuss three topics: why accountability matters, what Colorado has learned through administering opioid settlement funds, and where we go from here.

I. Accountability and the Purpose of the Settlements

Let me begin with a story that has stayed with me for years. During my first visit to the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado nine years ago, Alamosa County Sheriff Robert Jackson told me something that stopped me in my tracks: more than 90 percent of the people in the county jail were struggling with opioid addiction (as was later publicly reported[2]).

That statistic captured the scope of the crisis and brought home to me its painful impact. The opioid epidemic was never confined to hospitals and treatment centers. It showed up in jails, in courtrooms, in schools, in workplaces, and at family kitchen tables. It was, and remains, a public health crisis, a public safety crisis, and a crisis of human dignity that has touched families in every corner of our state.

The opioid crisis did not begin by accident. It began in corporate boardrooms at companies like Purdue Pharma. Colorado pursued cases against opioid manufacturers because communities deserve accountability and because families deserve justice. We sought to hold companies accountable for their conduct and recover resources for communities that had been carrying the human and financial costs of this crisis for far too long.

In 2025, we finalized the Purdue/Sackler settlement, ending the Sacklers’ control of Purdue and barring them from ever selling opioids in the United States again; Colorado’s share from that agreement is $75 million over 15 years.[3] Taken together, Colorado has now secured over $912 million in opioid-related settlements, and more than $130 million has already been distributed to communities across our state.[4]

At this moment, there is important progress to acknowledge. Nationally, preliminary federal data indicate that overdose deaths fell again in 2025, marking a third consecutive annual decline.[5]  That means lives saved and families spared unimaginable loss. But we still have important work to do.

II. Lessons from Colorado’s Experience

As Colorado has worked to implement settlement funding, we have learned several important lessons that may be useful to states across the country.

The first lesson is to lead by listening.

From the beginning, Colorado embraced a regional model that recognized that the challenges facing rural and frontier communities are different than those facing urban and suburban communities, and that local leaders understand their communities best. We decided early that the money should move to the people closest to the crisis, not sit in a silo at the state capitol—and not be held from those on the ground meeting this crisis because of slow-moving bureaucracy.[6] Through a process of listening and dialogue, we created 19 Regional Opioid Abatement Councils. Sadly, in Colorado, we don’t have a standard regional map so our opioid regions differ from, for example, public safety or transportation regions. Nonetheless, our opioid abatement framework empowers local leaders to determine how resources can best be invested and which strategies are most needed in their communities.[7] This approach reflects a principle of which my friend and Colorado Opioid Abatement Council member Racquel Garcia often reminds us: the people closest to the problem are often closest to the solution.

The implementation of the Colorado framework has afforded local and regional leaders the chance to shine. Take, for example, Alamosa County Commissioner Lori Laske, who led the San Luis Valley region and worked to ensure that people with lived and living experience had a seat at the table and a voice in decision-making. While those conversations were not always easy, they reflected an important commitment to listening to those most directly affected by this crisis. And others in the state learned from her leadership.

The second lesson is that transparency builds trust.

Settlement dollars belong to the public and those impacted by this crisis. The public deserves to know where those dollars are being invested and what outcomes are being achieved.

Colorado’s public dashboard allows anyone to see how funds are being distributed and spent. We made a deliberate decision that settlement funding should not disappear into a black box. Transparency promotes accountability, encourages learning, and strengthens public confidence in this work.

The third lesson is that opioid settlement funding must work alongside sustained investment in our behavioral health and public health infrastructure.

The opioid settlements represent a historic investment, but they were never intended to replace the broader behavioral health, public health, and community support systems that people rely on every day. That is why Colorado has determined that supplantation is not an approved use of opioid settlement funds. These dollars should strengthen existing systems, not replace them.[8]

Long-term success requires strong treatment systems, strong prevention efforts, strong recovery supports, and strong public health infrastructure. It requires investment and partnership at every level of government along the continuum of care. That is why we must remain vigilant when critical funding streams are threatened.

When unlawful federal actions threatened critical funding for Colorado, I fought to protect nearly $1.2 billion for essential programs in our state.[9] In particular, Colorado led a coalition of states that blocked an attempt by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy to abruptly terminate $11 billion in public health grants, including $229 million in grant funding for critical Colorado public health programs.[10] And when the Trump administration sought to dismantle AmeriCorps and prevent Colorado from accessing the eight to ten million dollars dedicated to our state for this important program, I went to court and secured the funding.[11] Similarly, when there was an attempt to discontinue $1 billion in congressionally approved youth mental health funding, I fought back to protect nearly $10 million for Colorado schools, universities, and students.[12]

When the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, moved to terminate grants supporting crucial mental health and substance use disorder services, our office heard directly from front-line providers and worked quickly alongside local advocates to protect those resources. While the administration reversed course, the uncertainty created significant disruption and reinforced a broader challenge that too many behavioral health services depend on a complex patchwork of funding sources rather than the stable, long-term investments that communities deserve.[13]

The lesson is clear: opioid settlement funds can strengthen our response, but they cannot sustain it alone. We must continue investing in and protecting essential behavioral health and public health services. As we look ahead, we must remain vigilant in defending Medicaid and other essential funding streams that make treatment, recovery, and prevention accessible.

When one-time federal investments ended, Colorado invested $3 million in the state’s naloxone program in 2025, helping expand access to this lifesaving medication across our state.[14] While settlement funds have helped support those efforts, naloxone access should not depend on temporary funding streams alone. In short, naloxone, public health staffing, and overdose prevention infrastructure should be treated as core public health investments with sustainable support at every level of government.

III. Progress and the Work That Remains

It is important to recognize that Black and Indigenous communities continue to experience disproportionate increases in overdose deaths.[15]  That reality underscores why equity must remain at the center of this work and is especially front of mind as we approach Juneteenth. To that end, we recently launched a targeted funding opportunity to support community-based organizations that are deeply rooted in and trusted by the communities they serve.[16] And that’s why, when the Trump administration abruptly cut over a billion dollars in critical grant funding for research by the National Institutes of Health for women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups, we took action.[17]

One area in which we, as a society, need to focus and make progress is how we support recovery for those who are incarcerated. As my conversation with Sheriff Jackson highlighted, incarcerated individuals are often not supported and not provided with treatment options. That’s why, for too long, individuals leaving jails and prisons faced an extraordinarily high risk of overdose death. Through opioid settlement investments and partnerships with correctional systems, Colorado has prioritized providing treatment options in our jails and prisons as well as expanded access to medications for opioid use disorder and strengthened connections to care upon release.[18]

The results from our focus on supporting inmates with treatment and recovery pathways have been encouraging. The number of individuals who initiated medication addiction treatment in custody and were released with an ongoing treatment plan grew from just three individuals in 2022 to more than 500 annually. Even more importantly, on account of this initiative, those in such programs experienced substantially lower overdose-related mortality, particularly during the first 30 days after release.[19]

I’m also incredibly proud of Colorado’s robust recovery community, many of whose leaders are here today. Our spending patterns tell an important story. In 2025, recovery became the largest category of opioid settlement expenditures in Colorado, accounting for nearly 40% of all spending. Treatment remained the second-largest category, followed by harm reduction and prevention.[20]

I am also proud that in Colorado we have used our settlement funds and our regional abatement councils to create a community of practice. Before these settlements, Colorado did not have a statewide, coordinated initiative to address this crisis. We do now. In September, we will hold our fifth annual conference, bringing together statewide leaders and advocates to support and learn from one another and expand the impact of this work.

No state has all the answers. We are all learning in real time.

That is why Colorado is investing in tracking what works, building community capacity, and sharing lessons learned. Our goal is not to merely fund programs. Our goal is to understand what works, what does not, and how we can continuously improve.

This spirit of learning is one reason why gatherings like this conference are so important. We should not be 50 states independently reinventing solutions. We should be 50 states learning from one another and creating frameworks that are data-informed, transparent, accountable, and responsive to community needs.

* * *

The opioid settlements represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity. The question that we must ask is whether we built systems that could meet this crisis and pave the path to a better future. We must ask whether we can build support systems that help people reclaim their lives and live in recovery. Because every life matters and is worth saving. I am grateful to be with so many leaders from across the country who share this commitment and are leaning into this important work.

Thank you.

 

[1] Steadman Group, National Opioid Settlement Conference (June 17-19, 2026), https://steadmangroup.com/national-opioid-settlement-conference/ (opens new tab).

[2] Colorado Public Radio, Colorado’s Opioid Crisis Fuels Alamosa’s Jail Overcrowding (Mar. 29, 2018), https://www.cpr.org/2018/03/29/colorados-opioid-crisis-fuels-alamosas-jail-overcrowding/ (opens new tab).

 

[3] Colo. Dep’t of Law, Purdue/Sackler $7.4B Nationwide Opioid Settlement Goes Into Effect (May 1, 2026), https://coag.gov/press-releases/purdue-sackler-7-4b-nationwide-opioid-settlement-goes-into-effect/ (opens new tab).

[4] Colo. Dep’t of Law, Colorado’s Opioid Settlement Funds Dashboard (accessed June 2026), https://coag.gov/opioids/dashboard.

[5] U.S. Ctrs for Disease Control & Prevention, Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts (accessed June 2026),  https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm (opens new tab).

[6] Colorado Department of Law, Colorado Opioid Memorandum of Understanding and Colorado Opioid Abatement Council governance materials, 2021, https://coag.gov/app/uploads/2021/10/1-Colorado-Opioid-MOU.pdf (PDF).

[7] Id.

[8] Colo. Dep’t of Law, Supplantation Is Not an Approved Purpose for Opioid Settlement Funds (June 5, 2025), https://coag.gov/app/uploads/2025/06/Supplantation-is-Not-an-Approved-Purpose-for-Opioid-Settlement-Funds.pdf (PDF).

 

[9] Phil Weiser, Leading Together: Collective Action for Colorado’s Resilience and Well-Being (Jan. 27, 2026), https://coag.gov/blog-post/leading-together-collective-action-for-colorados-resilience-and-well-being-jan-27-2026/.

[10] Id.

[11] Colo. Dep’t of Law, Attorney General Phil Weiser Prevents Cuts to AmeriCorps Service Programs (Aug. 29, 2025), https://coag.gov/press-releases/attorney-general-phil-weiser-prevents-cuts-to-americorps-service-programs/.

[12] Colo. Dep’t of Law, Colorado Sues U.S. Dep’t of Educ. Over Illegal Termination of Youth Mental Health Funding (July 1, 2025), https://coag.gov/press-releases/attorney-general-phil-weiser-lawsuit-education-department-youth-mental-health-7-1-25.

[13] Phil Weiser, Leading Together: Collective Action for Colorado’s Resilience and Well-Being (Jan. 27, 2026), https://coag.gov/blog-post/leading-together-collective-action-for-colorados-resilience-and-well-being-jan-27-2026/.

[14] Colo. Dep’t of Law, Attorney General’s Office Provides $3 Million in Opioid Settlement Funds to Maintain and Prevent Disruptions to Naloxone Access Statewide (June 24, 2025), https://coag.gov/press-releases/attorney-general-phil-weiser-naloxone-bulk-purchase-fund-6-24-25/.

[15] Colo. Dep’t of Pub. Health and Env’t, State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS) (accessed June 2026), https://cdphe.colorado.gov/registries-and-vital-statistics/state-unintentional-drug-overdose-reporting-system-sudors/colorado (opens new tab).

[16] Colo. Dep’t of Law, Funding Opportunities (accessed June 2026), https://coag.gov/funding-opportunities/.

[17] Colo. Dep’t of Law, Attorney General Phil Weiser Sues Trump Administration for Defunding Medical & Pub. Health Research (Feb. 10, 2025), https://coag.gov/press-releases/weiser-sues-trump-defunding-research-2-10-25/.

[18] Colo. Dep’t of Law, $3.94 Million Grant to Boost Opioid Use Disorder Care in Colo. State Prisons (2025), https://coag.gov/press-releases/3-94-million-grant-to-boost-opioid-use-disorder-care-in-colorado-state-prisons/.

[19] Colo. Dep’t of Corr., Interim Evaluation of the Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Program (2025-2026).

[20] Colo. Dep’t of Law, Colorado’s Opioid Settlement Funds Dashboard (accessed June 2026), https://coag.gov/opioids/dashboard.