Boulder County Regional Opioids Council

The purpose of the BCROC is to guide and determine how proceeds from the State of Colorado’s share of opioid settlement funds should be spent. These abatement funds are to provide regions with infrastructure, programming, and workforce enhancements to address the damages caused by the increasing prevalence of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) or Substance Use Disorder (SUD) within our communities.

The term “opioid litigation” is used to describe several lawsuits by state and local governments against pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors. States are seeking damages for harm caused to the State of Colorado for deceptive marketing of opioids. In recent years, nationwide settlements have been reached with the “Big 3” opioid distributors (McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen) and Johnson & Johnson to resolve claims that these companies contributed to the opioid epidemic.

The State of Colorado is divided into 19 recipient regions, each with their own allocation of the state’s settlement funds. Boulder County was designated as its own recipient region and includes Boulder County; the cities of Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville, and Boulder; and the towns of Erie, Jamestown, Lyons, Nederland, Superior and Ward).

The allocations to each Region are based on three factors that address the relative severity of the opioid crisis: (a) the number of persons suffering from Opioid Use Disorder in the county; (b) the number of opioid overdose deaths in the county; and (c) the amount of opioids distributed within the county.

On August 26, 2021, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser signed the Colorado Opioids Settlement Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which designated the terms under which Colorado regions may receive funds. The Colorado MOU established five broad “Approved Purpose Areas” that direct the use of funds. These are: Prevention and Education, Harm Reduction, Criminal Justice, Treatment, and Recovery. Under the MOU, the region receives 60% of the total allotment with 40% allocated on a percentage basis to the County and municipalities. Under the current settlement, funds are provided over an 18 year timeframe with an estimated $17,078,153 coming to the region. Additional dollars will be provided as other settlements are reached.

Each region must designate a regional leadership council, with elected officials and senior regional leadership (In the Boulder Region this is called the Boulder County Region Opioid Council or BCROC). A primary goal of Councils is to develop a 2-year plan that identifies where allocated funds will be used across the approved purpose areas. This plan is then reviewed by the State’s Abatement Council for approval and release of funds.

The Boulder Region also developed a local Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to be signed by all municipalities receiving an allocation and Boulder County government officials as a working agreement under the MOU. This IGA further describes the creation of an Opioid Operations Board comprised of non-profits, government representatives, and persons with lived experience. This group is tasked with developing recommendations for consideration by the BCROC.