Butler County will receive a share of the $1 billion Pennsylvania will get in a settlement with drugmakers and pharmacies over opioid abuse.

The amount of money headed here has not been determined, but Commissioner Kevin Boozel said Wednesday it will be less than a previous opioid settlement from which the county is receiving $9.6 million over 18 years.

The new settlements are being negotiated with Teva, Allergan, CVS, Walmart and Walgreens.

These national settlements represent an effort that began in 2018 to hold drug manufacturers, suppliers and sellers accountable for the opioid crisis, which is blamed for more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over two decades.

The yearslong effort was initiated by state and local governments to force the pharmaceutical industry to help pay to address opioid addiction and overdoses.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of overdose deaths in the United States topped 100,000 for the first time in 2021. Last summer, the CDC noted that overdose deaths were on the rise by 16% in Pennsylvania.

Drug overdose deaths in Butler County peaked at 92 in 2017. Following a decline in 2018, overdose deaths climbed to 73 in 2020 and 66 last year. There were 30 in 2013.

More than 100 people die every day from opioid-related drug overdoses. Overall life expectancy in the U.S. has declined for three years straight due in large part to the opioid epidemic, reversing a half-century trend.

Overdoses kill more Americans than car crashes or gun violence. Prevention and access to treatment for opioid addiction and overdose reversal drugs are critical to fighting this epidemic.

The county’s previous settlement was approved last year with pharmaceutical distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson Corporation, AmerisourceBergen and Johnson & Johnson. The county’s settlement came from $1.07 billion the state received from a $26 billion national settlement. The county is expected to receive an average of $500,000 a year for the next 17 years.

That money can be used for myriad purposes, such as distributing and training in the use of naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses; distribution, education, awareness training and other support services for medication-assisted treatment; and prevention programs, including drug disposal, media campaigns and evidence-based programs in schools.

A March 7 event sponsored by Ellen O’Brien Gaiser Center focused on how addiction is a community problem with a community solution. Joe Mahoney, executive director of the center, told those in attendance that raising awareness about the effects of addiction is crucial to preventing it, and “education is key to prevention.”

We hope our county commissioners will steer the bulk of the money coming from the latest settlement toward programs and education to help prevent the scourge of opioids from spreading in our county.

— JGG