Kentucky Receives $8 Million Opioid Settlement

Kentucky just received millions of dollars to help fight the opioid epidemic as part of a multibillion-dollar nationwide opioid settlement.

The state is getting $8 million, which will be spent soon. But over the next 18 years, the commonwealth will get $842 million as part of the settlement, according to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

The Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission is overseeing the distribution of half of the settlement money. The chairman and executive director of the commission, Bryan Hubbard, said the other half will go directly to city and county governments for distribution.

For now, Kentucky has awarded a portion of the $8 million settlement money to 25 organizations across the state. Some of them are Louisville-based, such as the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition, Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky and Seven Counties Services. Volunteers of America Mid-States will also get a portion of the money.

Organizations receiving settlement funding include:

Shepherd’s House of Lexington
Appalachian Restoration Project, based in Barbourville
Chrysalis House of Lexington
Isaiah House
Lake Cumberland District Health Department
Mountain Comprehensive Care Center
Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation
Seven Counties Services
Young People in Recovery of Louisville
Family Scholar House Louisville
Lake Cumberland Community Action Agency
Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky
Revive Ministries of Nicholasville
Volunteers of America Mid-States of Louisville
Scott County Sheriff’s Office of Georgetown
Taylor County School District in Campbellsville
Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky
Cumberland Trace Legal Services/Kentucky Legal Aid
Legal Aid of the Bluegrass, Lexington
Legal Aid Society of Louisville
Young Men’s Christian Association of Greater Louisville
Kentucky Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs (12 corporations across Kentucky)
Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition of Louisville
Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment & Education (Operation UNITE) of London

For more information about the settlement and the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, or for organizations wishing to complete a grant application, click here.
Source: WDRB