HARRISBURG (TNS) — It has much in common with the monumental tobacco settlement, which sent billions to every state, supposedly to be spent on preventing and addressing the ills of tobacco use. Yet much of it went to purposes such as road repairs.
With Pennsylvania set to receive about $1.1 billion from a newly-signed, massive settlement involving an opioid manufacturer and distributors, state Attorney Josh Shapiro stood with Dauphin County officials on Monday and promised this time will be different, with virtually all of the money going to drug prevention and treatment.
Shapiro said it will be accomplished by strict rules on what the money can be spent on, and by channeling the vast majority — 85% — to counties, which are largely responsible for funding and overseeing local programs, and which he said are “where the rubber meets the road” in terms of people in need being able to find adequate programs.
He further pointed to the existence of a “trust” that will include people appointed by the governor and leaders in the state legislature, and which will be charged with distributing the money and making sure it’s spent correctly.
Shapiro spoke at an event where Dauphin County elected officials and drug treatment professionals outlined plans for using the money from the settlement finalized earlier this year. The settlement will deliver $131 million to Pennsylvania this year.
Shapiro, who was a leader in a national group of attorneys general who negotiated the settlement, called it a “turning point” in the opioid crisis he said is killing 15 Pennsylvanians per day.
“Today marks the day when the companies that fueled this crisis, who peddled narcotics for profit, and flooded our neighborhoods with addictive pills … that they pay up and the communities that were targeted get to fight back with new resources,” he said.
Dauphin County officials said they are accepting grant requests from local organizations interested in providing treatment services, prevention, housing and other help to people trying to recover from addiction.
Dale Klatzker, the CEO of Gaudenzia, a major drug treatment provider, said a significant treatment barrier involves a shortage of drug treatment professions, saying Pennsylvania has only 2,487 certified addiction counselors to serve an estimated 700,000 people with substance abuse disorder.
Cheryl Dondero, also of Gaudenzia, described a need for better programs to enable people dealing with addiction to avoid the criminal justice system.
“We need to keep our young people out of the criminal justice system to stop the revolving door that almost always happens once you receive that first jail sentence,” said Dondero, who further said such negative impacts fall disproportionately on people with lower incomes and minorities.
Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo, whose office will receive $2 million in settlement money this year, agreed, promising to spend money on programs and personnel devoted to recognizing people whose crimes stem from addiction and steering them to treatment.
In some cases, Chardo said, “we will outright forego charges for those battling addiction who are committed to treatment, but we will have a tracking mechanism to make sure they follow through.”
Shapiro is also the Democratic candidate for governor, running against Republican Doug Mastriano.
He said 5,224 people in Pennsylvania died of overdoses last year.
The 2022 toll is similar to 2017, the year when Pennsylvania declared an overdose emergency and intensified a wide-ranging effort that saw several years of declining overdose deaths. However, the tide of overdoses rose again during the COVID-19 pandemic, which interrupted treatment programs and led to isolation that increased vulnerability for many people.
Shapiro said a major contributor to the upturn is the rise of fentanyl, a cheap synthetic opioid that’s far more powerful than heroin, and is now added to many drugs, with the end user often unaware of the potency.
He said the settlement money will ensure “more education, more training, more services. We can make an impact and save lives going forward. We know this because we all collectively understand addiction is a disease, not a crime, and needs to be treated as such.”
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