County awarded $874,000 this year in opioid settlement

Aug. 18—MERCER — Mercer County is set to receive $874,000 in two payments this year as part of the opioid crisis settlement from distributors.

The agreement will award the county a total of about $6.5 million over 20 years, with payments made annually.

Commissioner Scott Boyd said the county will form a committee, including representatives from the Mercer County Behavioral Commission, that will decide how to use the money.

"This is good news," Boyd said at the commissioners meeting Thursday. "We're very excited to see that these funds will be put to good use."

The terms of the settlement outline specific acceptable uses for the funds. Such uses include training for first responders or for youth for prevention purposes, providing Narcan to people who are uninsured, and providing treatment and recovery support services.

"Just a wide variety of purposes it can be used for," Boyd said.

The billion-dollar settlement to Pennsylvania counties is with the three largest pharmaceutical distributors: McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen, as well as manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc., and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson.

In December, commissioners said some of the money could be filtered down to towns with more than 10,000 residents, which would include Hermitage and Sharon.

Commissioner Matt McConnell said at the time that some of the money could get filtered to Hermitage and Sharon if they approach the commissioners and present a valid proposal for funding.

So far this year, 30 people in Mercer County were victims of fatal overdoses, compared to a total of 31 fatal overdoses in 2016. In 2021, Mercer County had a record 67 overdose deaths, 45 in 2020, 43 in 2019, 51 in 2018 and 40 in 2017.

Follow Melissa Klaric on twitter @HeraldKlaric or email her at mklaric@sharonherald.com