This analysis highlights how opioid-settlement dollars can improve public health infrastructure, suggesting urgent policy changes in response to emerging synthetic drug threats.
State and local governments across Appalachia are allocating opioid-settlement dollars over the coming years. This funding opportunity can support lasting public health infrastructure or be spent on short-term programs anchored in the opioid crisis of the past. Evidence indicates that emerging synthetic drugs such as nitazenes and xylazine are altering overdose risk patterns in ways that require urgent policy attention.
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Bradley A Firchow (2025) studied this question.
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