Stephens County is seeking the state’s help in covering the cost of fighting opioid addiction.
The Stephens County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously March 28 to approve an application for a $120,000 grant from the Oklahoma Opioid Abatement Board, which is located in the Oklahoma attorney general’s office. The $120,000 figure is the maximum amount allowable under the state’s guidelines, but the commissioners asked to be notified if any additional funds are available in the future.
Stephens County and several other southwestern Oklahoma counties are setting up a public trust designed to address the state’s opioid crisis, according to the grant application. The trust plans to use funds from other sources to build an addiction treatment center, while the state grant would help the trust pay for programs designed to reduce overdoses, curb prescription drug use and create educational and public-awareness programs.
“This funding would also be used to enhance outpatient treatment programs for individuals who are re-entering society after overdose and/or incarceration,” county officials said in the grant application.
The Opioid Abatement Board plans to award about $23 million in grant funds for projects designed to address the opioid crisis, Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced in August 2023. Approved uses for the grants include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Treatment and recovery programs.
• Opioid abuse education and prevention.
• Strategies to reduce the supply of narcotics.
Grant money will come from legal settlements with opioid manufacturers, distributors and retailers.