Bucks County recently allocated $1.8 million of its share of Pennsylvania’s Opioid Settlement Fund to a range of programs to address the opioid epidemic, officials said.
The county’s commissioners unanimously approved funds to expand the distribution of Narcan, fentanyl test strips and continued funding of the Human Services Co-responders Program, among other services, provided by the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission.
“These funds are really in honor of and recognition of all the folks who’ve been lost to opioids,” said BCDAC executive director, Diane Rosati, in a statement. “We want to make sure that we make that point.”
From prevention programs for children and peer support programs to a media campaign and grief support groups, the funds are targeted toward substance abuse disorder treatment and prevention. Training programs for first responders are also being funded from the settlement.
Last year, the county commissioners established a seven-member advisory committee to help officials identify the areas of greatest need across Bucks.
“The opioid epidemic, which has affected so many lives in our county and our country is not over, and the process of holding accountable the people and companies responsible for unleashing this man-made plague is not over either,” said Harvie, at the time. “The settlement agreed upon by almost half of the states in this nation will help Bucks County address the epidemic in our communities,” he said.
Bucks County was awarded $45 million from the state’s $1 billion share of a $26 billion settlement against three distributors of opioids — AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson — and one manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson.
The county’s funds will be disbursed over 18 years. All the money must be used to address the opioid epidemic, according to terms of the settlement.
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