Discussion should start soon on how Luzerne County will spend approximately $25 million it is expected to receive over 18 years from the state’s settlement against opioid manufacturers and wholesale distributors, officials say.
Council Chairman John Lombardo said the final step will be the selection of a citizen to serve on a commission council had created in September to make spending recommendations to council, which has the final say.
A council majority selected Lombardo as council’s commission representative last week. Also serving on the commission are the county district attorney, drug/alcohol director, human services division head, correctional services division head and county manager.
Officially called the Commission on Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement, the advisory body must identify the best uses for the funding “to assist the affected citizens and law enforcement agencies of Luzerne County in their battle against illegal drug trafficking, opioid misuse and addiction,” the ordinance said.
Lombardo said the county will announce the availability of the citizen commission seat, and applicants will be publicly interviewed. Council must decide whether the citizen will be selected by council or the commission, he said.
He personally wants someone directly impacted by opioid use disorder.
“I really hope that we’ll get a good candidate. Just at the prior council meeting we had several people with very compelling things to say,” Lombardo said.
Ross Township resident Jamie Walsh told council he lost his brother a year ago from an opioid overdose involving “a bad dose of Fentanyl,” which is a powerful synthetic opioid nearly 100 times more potent than morphine.
Walsh said his brother’s addiction started with a prescription after knee surgery 20 years ago.
“He never did a drug in his life until he got addicted to painkillers, and it just escalated for 20 years, where finally he died in his living room” in Edwardsville,” Walsh said. “It’s something that I’m very passionate about, and if there’s any way in any way, shape or form that I can be of help to the committee, I’d be more than happy.”
As a sample group, Walsh said he expects most council meeting room occupants have been impacted by the opioid epidemic.
“If you haven’t lost a loved one, you know someone who has, and it’s as Mr. (Greg) Griffin stated how bad it is here in Luzerne County.”
Griffin, of Swoyersville, has been speaking out about the opioid problem for years after losing a brother and sister-in-law from drug overdoses.
He described council’s decision on spending the funds as a “tremendous responsibility” and said the public expects this investment to “bring the death numbers down.”
The county had 180 drug overdose deaths in 2020 — a record high at that time — that was surpassed the following year, with 208 deaths in 2021.
Officials are cautiously encouraged by a gradual decline.
In 2022, there were 174 overdose deaths in the county, and the number further decreased to 145 in 2023, coroner statistics show.
Griffin said the number of annual deaths is equivalent to a plane crash annually.
“You could leave the courthouse and in 15 minutes buy Fentanyl from a drug house. This is what the opioid committee is going to have to address,” Griffin said. “This money must not be wasted. People’s lives are counting on you — council — to oversee this opioid committee.”
He urged the commission to listen to county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce,” saying he “is on the front lines.”
Newport Township resident Theodore Fitzgerald, who has openly discussed his past drug addiction, said council needs input from people with “street smarts” who have maintained sobriety.
“We have to get a new approach,” he said of tackling the problem.
Hazleton resident Mark Rabo said his city was identified as a “source city” for opioids entering the market, and he hopes the commission “can do something to decrease the supply of opioids on the streets.”
County Drug and Alcohol Administrator Ryan Hogan said he looks forward to the commission’s activation and will advocate for funding to “meet treatment and prevention needs” of county residents and communities. Funding guidelines must be followed, he emphasized.
A lengthy description of allowable options is posted by the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust, which was established by the court to oversee the settlement funds, at https://www.paopioidtrust.org.
The county has received $4.3 million from the settlement to date, which includes $1.7 million for 2023, said county Budget/Finance Division Head Mary Roselle. The unspent money has been accruing interest earnings — $58,000 to date, she added.
Although council is awaiting commission recommendations for future settlement spending, it agreed last year to use the funds to pay for a county prison system medication-assisted treatment program for inmates experiencing opioid withdrawal. That program was estimated at $377,000 last year and $450,000 in 2024.
Council members had stressed county prisons are now required by the state to provide such programs. Inmates increasingly enter the prison with substance use disorder and mental health issues, officials have said.
Lombardo said he is confident the commission, and ultimately council, will wisely earmark the funds after thorough research.
He agreed with Walsh that many residents have been impacted, saying no demographic group is immune.
“It’s all throughout every spectrum of life, which is really why it’s such a huge problem we have to address,” Lombardo said.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
Dallas Post
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