County distributes opioid settlement funds
May 15—Lawrence County's Opioid Advisory Board is distributing $307,250 among seven local agencies from the first rounds of opioid funding the county is getting from a multi-billion global opioid lawsuit settlement.
The county commissioners approved the allocations to the local agencies this week.
The county has been awarded $6.8 million of the settlement, which is designated to be used for opioid prevention, education and treatment services. The county will receive its share of the funds over 18 years, with a lot of the money coming early on in those years. The county last year received two installments of the money, totaling $775,676, and $393,318 more is expected this year.
Lawrence County's total allocation is from a billion-dollar opioid settlement that is part of the $26-billion global settlement with Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen — the nation's three major pharmaceutical distributors, and Johnson & Johnson. Pennsylvania has been one of the lead states negotiating the settlement announced in July.
The agencies receiving the first round of funding, and how they plan to use the money, are detailed below:
—Glade Run Lutheran Services of Zelienople, $50,000, to be used in the Lawrence County Family Wellness Program for individuals in recovery at the Frew Mill campus.
—Lawrence County DUI Program Inc., $100,000 for increased support, training and management of continually rising numbers of opioid-related individuals being referred to the agency.
—Vision Ministries of Lawrence County, $78,750, for the education of students, parents, teachers and the community on the opioid crisis.
—Lawrence County Coroner's office, $25,000. Coroner Richard "R.J." Johnson said the funds will be used in his budget to offset costs of autopsies and toxicology or other advanced testing.
—Lawrence County Firefighters and Fire Chiefs Association, $20,000, for increased opioid awareness, emergency medical intervention, and training to firefighters of Lawrence County.
—Mahoning Township police department, $17,500, for upgrading technology systems in their cruisers, allowing officers to track repeat offenders of opioid issues and locating appropriate intervention methods and locations beyond correctional facilities, such as hospitals and rehabilitation centers.
—Lawrence County Adult Probation and Lawrence County Children and Youth Services, $16,000 for mandated drug testing.
Commissioner Loretta Spielvogel, chairman of the county's opioid advisory board said the advisory board will decide at its June 6 meeting when a second round of applications will be accepted. The board meets in public at noon, the first Tuesday of every month in the commissioners meeting room on the first floor of the courthouse.
The global settlement requires significant industry changes that will help prevent an opioid crisis from happening again. The settlement is expected to bring about $1 billion into Pennsylvania.
Spielvogel explained in order for the counties to spend that money, each county had to find a way to distribute the funds. As a result, the commissioners appointed an opioid advisory board that meets monthly. Its members, in addition to Spielvogel, are county administrator Joe Venasco, President Judge Dominick Motto, District Attorney Joshua Lamancusa, Mental Health/Mental Retardation director Scott Baldwin, Children and Youth Services director John Bout and director of the county's drug and alcohol commission, Rebecca Abramson.
The advisory board several months ago agreed to accept applications from local agencies for distribution the some of the funds with uses that would fall in line with the opioid settlement trust fund board's rules and regulations, Spielvogel said. Applicants were required to comply with certain uses of the funds, which were to be for prevention, education and treatment services.
The application period was open from Feb. 1 through March 31. The county received about 10 applications, she said. The advisory board conducted a work session and reviewed the applications, and at a public meeting May 2, the advisory board voted to award the funds.
Some recipients received the full amounts they requested, and others were given different amounts depending on how the board determined the requests fell in line with the applicable uses, she said.
"It's a brand new program, and counties were given free rein to develop programs to fit their county needs," Spielvogel said. "That allows us to use the money as we see fit, because we don't compare with other counties.
"Our idea is to distribute the money to assist in any type of opioid prevention, education or distribution," she emphasized.
According to figures provided by Johnson, there were 85 overdose deaths in the county last year, and there have been 24 in the first four months of this year.
The Lawrence County commissioners voted for the county to join the settlement in January. Most Pennsylvania counties have signed onto the settlement. The funds are earmarked to offer and expand lifesaving treatment options, prioritizing the areas that have been most affected by this crisis.
