Opioid Money Distribution Under Scrutiny

Washington County has come under scrutiny for the way it has been distributing opioid settlement funds. The Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust is the committee that oversees the state’s opioid settlement trust fund. In a meeting this month, the committee rejected eight applicants, put nine others under review and agreed to assign a liaison to monitor future grant awards. The county has the option to take back the money given to the non-compliant eight recipients, or allow them to keep the money, but that money would then come from county funds and not settlement funds. Last week, Democratic County Commissioner Larry Maggi had questioned the procedures used to award the grants and called for an actual committee to be formed, rather than just three employees making the decision. He also called for an audit. WJPA reached out for comment to Commission Chairman Nick Sherman, who responded with an emailed statement saying the county intends to discuss and appeal the non-compliant determinations and give those recipients an opportunity to demonstrate that their programs do fall under the Trust’s approved uses.