Recovery Advocate Reacts To Release Of Opioid Settlement Funds

Four years after Oklahoma brought its own, eventually successful, lawsuit among a series of settlements with pharmaceutical and drug companies, the Attorney General's office announced the first round of Opioid Abatement Funds has reached public groups across the state.

Since late 2023, the board supervising the funds narrowed 250 letters of interest to 71 grantees for the first round, which contained $11 million in funding. More than 30 of the recipients are school districts.

"On behalf of the state, I'm embarrassed that we've been sitting on so much money for so many years," said Attorney General Gentner Drummond. "We've had over $45 million to dispense out of the subdivisions of the state, since 2019 and '20."

Among the first-round recipients, planned uses include a recovery center in Altus, at-home drug test kits and Naloxone, youth education, and related staff.

In Oklahoma County, funds have been awarded for a partnership with the University of Oklahoma for a "three-year intensive case management intervention that provides home visits to pregnant and postpartum individuals with at-risk substance abuse history."

"That money is going to go a long way for places for people to go, the kind of prevention, and even just the education as to what it is," said Sherry Alexander, who is the area coordinator for the Ignatius Spirituality Project, which offers addiction recovery and homelessness outreach services.

The most recent data from the state reveals nearly 800 opioid-related deaths happened in 2022.

"Whenever possible, love them exactly where they are," Alexander recommended to family and friends supporting loved ones planning a recovery.

"Sometimes there's a whole lot of boundaries that need to be put around that. But somebody who's in recovery, or somebody who's working on staying clean, the main thing is not to judge how fast things are going; not to judge what path they need to take."

Drummond said his office hopes to release up to another $6.5 million in August.