By Brittany Anderson
Kyle will soon join other cities across Texas that are receiving money from a $26 billion U.S. opioid settlement.
During the city council meeting on Sept. 21, Kyle City Council unanimously approved to settle for the city’s allocated $51,835.
Opioid manufacturer Johnson and Johnson, along with opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson, have been accused of fostering drug addiction through marketing opioids with relaxed measures.
Kyle’s opioid settlement resolution reads that there is a “substantial need for repayment of opioid-related expenditures and payment to abate opioid-related harms in and about the City of Kyle.”
As a whole, Texas will receive about $1.5 billion over 18 years to be distributed across its municipalities. Buda was allocated $10,748 and settled on Sept. 7. Other Hays County cities that are set to receive funds but have not yet settled include Dripping Springs with an allocated $811 and San Marcos with an allocated $325,688.
Per the settlement, funding must be used to support any strategy to fight the opioid crisis. Samantha Armbruster, Kyle’s director of communications, said that plans for the use of funds in Kyle will be approved by council members.
