Commissioners To Establish Opioid Advisory Committee

Washington County Commissioners will be voting to adopt a resolution to establish an Opioid Advisory Committee to evaluate and recommend programs to receive funding from the nationwide Opioid Settlement Funds. Recently, Washington County was criticized by the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust and the county had 17 programs either denied funding or placed under further review for questions on the nominee’s compliance. According to Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman, the idea of a formation of a review committee has been in place for several months. He blames the rejection of the programs on “Moving Goalposts” by the state. He said that originally the Human Services Department was sufficient to make decisions. As the fund monies grew, he said the state wanted to see a review committee to be formed. He said that some of the programs in question were approved in earlier rounds of distribution. Sherman says that they are considering a 7 member board whose make up is still to be determined. Commissioner Larry Maggi is in support of the committee’s formation saying that it will bring more transparency to the review process.