In August 2021, 90 Arizona cities and towns and all 15 counties signed on to the One Arizona Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding (“One Arizona Agreement"). The One Arizona Agreement outlines the distribution of the estimated $542 million dollars that Arizona will receive over 18 years. As part of the spending framework, 56% of the total settlement will be disbursed to local governments (21.28% to the City of Phoenix) and 44% of the total settlement will remain with the State to fund future opioid programs and response efforts.

Under the One Arizona Opioid Settlement Memorandum funds must be used for future opioid strategies that are nationally recognized. Approved uses include evidence-based, evidence-informed strategies regarding:

• Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD)

• Support for people in treatment and recovery

• Support for people who have or are at risk of developing Opioid Use Disorder

• Prevention

•  of overdose deaths and other harms

• Prevention of opioid misuse
  

For more information on Opioid Settlements visit the Maricopa County Department of Public Health and Arizona Attorney General websites.​​

​To develop the City's first opioid response plan, the City is partnering with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health to support a substance use needs assessment. The assessment will aim to:

• Improve understanding of underlying causes of and experiences with substance use in Maricopa County
• Identify the perceptions, successes, and challenges to addressing substance use disorder/opioid use disorder (SUD/OUD)
• Provide a summary of the current state involving opioid/substance use overdose deaths and opioid/substance use prevalence in the county and the City of Phoenix

Results of the assessment and resident survey will be used to inform the development of the City's opioid response plan, activities, and investment areas for opioid settlement dollars.​​

​​Opioid-related harms and overdoses are continuing to have a significant impact on people who use substances, their families, and communities across the country. In 2021, approximately 107,622 people died from a drug overdose in the United States, which continues as a leading cause of injury-related death (CDC, 2022). In Arizona, the Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS) tracks opioid-specific related fatal and non-fatal overdoses, the rate of non-fatal opioid overdose for Maricopa County was 46.7 per 100,000 and the rate of fatal opioid overdose was 22.3 per 100,000 (AZDHS, 2023). The estimated overdose death rate for all drugs was 41.9 per 100,000 in Maricopa County (MCDPH, 2023).

In Phoenix, an estimated 991 people lost their lives due to drug overdose in 2022. 

​Fatal Overdoses: Cause-of-death toxicology (CODT) were obtained from the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner (OME) and compiled by the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, representing all overdose deaths that occurred within Maricopa County and investigated by the OME. Data were mapped based on the location of the overdose incident. Because some addresses were incomplete, a few records were unable to be mapped to the corresponding region.

An individual may have more than one drug present at the time of death. Analytes/substances appear on the CODT report if detected, and the Medical Examiner documents a drug as one of the causes of death. Not all analytes/substances listed on the CODT report contributed to the cause of death.

Links For More Opioid Data and Statistics:

Maricopa County Department of Public Health Mental Health and Substance Use Data

Arizona Department of Health Services Opioid Dashboard