BATON ROUGE — Several parishes across the state have not spent any funds distributed to them by the Louisiana Opioid Abatement Taskforce to address substance abuse, a Legislative Auditor's report released Monday said.

According to the report, $98.5 million was available to parishes and sheriffs offices to combat opioid addiction and to fund treatment programs. 

The report said that nine of 29 responding parishes and 19 of 43 responding sheriff's offices did not spend any of the funds. 

In the other parishes, only $8.6 million in funds from the task force was spent on treatment, prevention and other strategies to address substance use in their towns. 

The audit says that parish governments and sheriff's offices "have encountered barriers to spending the funds, such as a lack of staff and a lack of programs and services in their areas," asking for guidance from the Opioid Abatement Taskforce.

There is no state agency designated to the enforcement of opioid settlement agreements in the state of Louisiana, the report says.

While the Louisiana Opioid Abatement Taskforce is the advisory body that is tasked with all opioid settlement funds, Louisiana’s Memorandum of Understanding does not give the group "the authority to ensure parish and sheriff expenditures comply with the MOU," the audit says. 

Across the country, 25 states have an established oversight entity that is limited to an advisory role similar to Louisiana’s task force.

The report also found that only parishes are required to submit an annual expenditure report to the task force. As of December 2024, only 36 of 53 expenditure reports were submitted.

The complete audit can be read here.