Easing the opioid addiction crisis

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has secured hundreds of millions of dollars to help communities ravaged by the opioid addiction crisis travel the road to recovery. In September, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, with cooperation from hundreds of local governments, settled a lawsuit with distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen worth more than $808 million over 18 years.

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Ohio was among the very first states to settle, and local governments that had previously sued the distributors played a starring role in the deal. In a feat of state unity, they and scores of others joined with Attorney General Yost and embraced the OneOhio plan, a framework that ensures money from any negotiated settlement of opioid cases gets fairly distributed and wisely used.

This plan splits settlement money into three pots and creates a special foundation, dominated by locals, to make important decisions about project funding. The setup ensures that funding is focused on items that will make a difference in the opioid epidemic, such as programs that address prevention, treatment and long-term recovery; the overall health and well-being of Ohioans; and criminal justice.