ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Lehigh County is sitting on $1.7 million intended to address opioid abuse.
The county received much of it this summer.
But so far, there’s been no investment of that money into local programs or treatment centers.
- Lehigh County hasn't spent any of the $1.7 million it has for opioid abuse treatment initiatives.
- The county has set up a committee to determine best uses for the funding.
- More money is on the way as the state has received $80 million in federal funds for substance abuse.
‘We haven’t spent a dime’
“We haven’t spent a dime yet,” Lehigh County Executive Phil Armstrong said. “This money comes with a very serious set of regulations.”
And, Armstrong said, the county hopes to be judicious with the funds.
“This money comes with a very serious set of regulations.”Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong
It has a year to spend the first installment and, Armstrong said, if money is used incorrectly, the county will need to pay it back.
Armstrong said to ensure the funding – it's just a piece of the overall $17.6 million the county is expected to get from a national opioid settlement – is spent correctly, the county has put together a board to determine how money should best be distributed.
The board, he said, includes members of the county Board of Commissioners, the District Attorney’s office, the county’s Drug and Alcohol Administration and other stakeholders.
“Right now, we are looking at, ‘What are the cups we are going to put our money in?’” Armstrong said.
Where will it go?
First, he said, the board has discussed a desire to grow the Blue Guardian program. The program steps in after someone is revived from an overdose with the drug Narcan.
Through Blue Guardian, a member of law enforcement and a trained recovery specialist visit the individual’s home in an effort to help get them into treatment and discuss options with the individual’s family.
Armstrong said that program has seen success and could be expanded.
But the committee has other ideas, too.
“We would like to move up into the northern and southern suburbs to get some drug treatment centers to the population,” Armstrong said. “We have several in the Allentown and center city area, but we need to start moving out. So we are looking into that.”
The committee also is considering expanding hours for drug and alcohol treatment specialists at area hospitals, Armstrong said. Right now they work normal business hours, but he’d like to have specialists available 24 hours a day.
“Some of these things don’t happen between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., so we are looking at expanding that program,” Armstrong said.
The county will receive regular payments from the opioid settlement totaling $17.6 million for the next 18 years.
Lehigh County is not alone
Lisa Schaefer, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, said it wasn’t unheard of that Lehigh County still is working out how to best spend the money.
In fact, she said most counties are researching where to spend their share of settlement money.
“They have a year to use the funds,” she said. “They are being very thoughtful and deliberate, bringing together local committees, the local stakeholders who have a vested interest in addressing the opioid epidemic, to figure out the best ways to use those funds in their local communities.”
It’s not the only money that will be available to combat addiction.
Pa. has millions to fight drug addiction
Pennsylvania recently received $80 million from the White House, intended to support programs that combat substance abuse.
Just how much the Lehigh Valley will see has not yet been determined. But Ellen DiDomenico, deputy secretary of the state Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, said $13 million of the yearly funding will be delivered directly to counties for treatment programs.
And unlike the settlement money, DiDomenico said the state -- plus the counties — will have more flexibility on how to use the funding.
“We actually are able to use this a little more broad than that,” she said. “We can use this for a variety of prevention and services that are not specifically opioid focused, but more prevention in general.”
She said that one reason it’s helpful that the funds aren’t solely tied to opioids is that the state has seen an increase in the use and abuse of stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamines.
“Pennsylvania is no different than the rest of the nation in terms of seeing a very significant increase in stimulant use that is certainly problematic from a substance abuse disorder perspective,” DiDomenico said.
Just how much of that will come to the Lehigh Valley -- in Lehigh or Northampton counties -- is being determined, she said.
But the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs is researching population size as well as level of need in making those decisions.
And even then, the remaining money could end up in local programs, as well, as DiDomenico said they have a “broad” array of initiatives they intend to support.
“Our plan is really across the board – from prevention, treatment and empowering recovery as well as stigma reduction,” she said. “So our plan is really broad in that way.
“But we look at two things: We look at making treatment available and, also, improving the quality of treatment. That’s just some of the things we are doing with these dollars.”
She also said that treatment programs in prisons across the state will benefit from the money, to help those who are incarcerated to combat drug addiction, as well.
And while Lehigh County may take time to determine how to spend its share of the settlement money, DiDomenico said the federal funds could be put to use more quickly.
That funding, she said, became available Sept. 30.
