Howard Violet from Marion Township, Allen County Commissioner Beth Seibert and Lima Mayor Sharetta Smith meet with townships Friday afternoon to discuss opioid settlement.
Precious Grundy | The Lima News
LIMA — Local county entities gathered together on Friday to decide a course of action to combat opioids. A lawsuit by the state of Ohio against three major companies resulted in over $808 million being distributed across the state to help fund resource centers. Allen County is set to receive $100,000 annually for the next 18 years. According to Mayor Sharetta Smith, the city of Lima is set to receive funding annually as well.
The Allen County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Thursday morning to continue to participate in a new opioid settlement. Seibert decided to invite the City of Lima and other townships to a meeting Friday afternoon to further discuss. The hope of the meeting was to determine how to move forward as a county. Each entity shared its ideas on what to do with the money and if they should apply as a whole or as separate divisions.
The Allen County prosecutor’s office informed the commissioners of this new lawsuit against other companies that sold opioids. Seibert weighed in.
“This a new settlement through the OneOhio effort,” said Allen County Commissioner Beth Seibert. “The prosecutor’s office brought this to our attention and recommended, consistent with previous agreements, that we enter into this settlement proposal. It involves the distributors: Teva, Allergan, CVS, Walgreens and Walmart.”
Throughout the meeting, the different entities shared ideas for emergency housing, education, prevention, monitoring, Narcan kits, data and analytics and creating a way to monitor the progress in the community.
Allen County Children Services Executive Director Sarah Newland weighed in.
“The impact opioids have affected the child-welfare system so much,” said Newland. “We have been fighting this since 2016 and I would love to say it’s getting better but it is not. I think this month alone has probably been one of the worst months that we have seen in a long time. Parents can’t help their children when they are under the influence.”
The members plan to meet before the application is due to determine the next course of action for the county as a whole.
Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
