Aroostook County proposes plan for opioid settlement money

Aroostook County commissioners will vote in November on whether to approve a proposed county grant program that would use state money for opioid benefits plans. (Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli | Houlton Pioneer Times via Zoom)

A task force responsible for Aroostook County’s opioid settlement money wants local organizations to apply for funding to help people adversely affected by the drugs.

Aroostook is scheduled to receive $2.69 million in settlement funds spread over the next 16 years. The funds are part of national lawsuits over the disproportionate harm caused over the past decade by the distribution of highly addictive prescription painkillers. Earlier this year, the provincial government created a 9-member task force to determine how that money should be distributed.

In Maine, 39 counties, cities and towns are expected to share $66 million in opioid settlement funds, part of the more than $50 billion expected to be distributed nationwide. Although the funds are intended to help with opioid treatment and recovery programs, a survey by The Maine Monitor this year found that most communities spent their money on law enforcement, raising concerns among advocates.

Aroostook officials said they want their grant program to fund organizations that help victims of the epidemic.

According to analyzed data, more than 26.6 million prescription painkillers were dispensed to people in Aroostook between 2006 and 2014. in the Washington Post. As a result, the region has experienced a significant number of opioid-related overdoses, many of which have claimed the lives of residents.

There have been 362 non-fatal and 28 fatal overdoses with Aroostook so far in 2024, compared to 485 non-fatal and 69 fatal overdoses in 2023. according to state data collected in August. Statewide, there have been 5,621 nonfatal and 341 fatal overdoses this year, compared to 9,274 nonfatal and 606 in all of 2023.

Local advocates and volunteers have led many programs to help people combat addiction and recover. These include three recovery centers, two recovery houses and creative ways to distribute naloxone, an overdose-reversing drug, as in vending machines and via cabinets at companies in the area. The region also has two treatment centers – a methadone clinic And an 18-bed residential treatment facility – both on Presque Isle.

The province’s vast geographic area means not everyone has access to these services and some may not even know they exist. A grant program could be the first step in solving these problems, said county executive Ryan Pelletier.

“We want to strengthen the work that local organizations are already doing and help them reach many more people,” said Pelletier. “We have people in recovery spread across the province, but transportation, among other things, is a barrier. Maybe they don’t all know what’s out there.”

Aroostook has received $744,345 from the allocated settlement and Pelletier is proposing to use $300,000 for the first round of a grant program aimed at local organizations that focus on one of four categories: treatment, recovery, harm reduction and prevention.

Each category will have a cap of $75,000, coming from the $300,000, but the task force could move more funding to other categories depending on the number of applications each category receives, Pelletier said.

“We want the money to go where the need is greatest,” said Pelletier.

County Commissioners will vote on whether to approve the task force’s proposed letter of intent and application forms at their next meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office in Houlton. That meeting will begin at 1 p.m. and will also include a Zoom option for participants who cannot travel to Houlton.

If the commissioners approve, organizations can consult the letter of intent form on the county’s website, which asks them to express their intent to apply and briefly describe what they would use the money for. Letters of intent are due Dec. 16 and full applications are due Jan. 15, 2025. Commissioners would likely vote on the task force’s recommended projects for funding in mid-February.

The subsidy program would be similar to the one the province has set up with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. Through that program, provincial officials distributed $6.5 million to municipalities and nonprofits for infrastructure, broadband, public health and clean water projects.

Pelletier said he encourages everyone in the recovery community to attend future meetings of the commissioner and the opioid task force.

The next Opioid Task Force meeting will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, December 17, at Caribou Superior Court.

If the grant program moves forward, the task force would use that meeting to review letters of intent and decide which organizations to invite to submit full applications, Pelletier said.