Coming soon from Deep South Today

After decades of opioid overdoses that ravaged the country, the state of Mississippi is being awarded hundreds of millions of dollars by the very companies that contributed to one of the country's worst modern public health epidemics. Now, critical questions loom over the cash: Will this money be used in ways that honors the epidemic's victims? And can the public trust powerful decision-makers across Mississippi to effectively confront the crisis?

Series premiers July 21.

Mississippi began receiving millions of dollars in opioid settlement funds in 2022. While the State Legislature and the Attorney General spent years leaving a large chunk of the funds untouched in a bank account, cities and counties across Mississippi were given a portion of the money to spend however they saw fit. In South Mississippi, a county sheriff heard about the funds, and quietly asked his local leaders for money to support his law enforcement efforts. But these purchases weren't run by the South Mississippi families who've suffered most from the addiction crisis — Mississippi Today had to tell them that after the money had gone out the door.

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