By Wayne Gates

Brown County will be part of a multi-million dollar federal effort to fight opiate addiction.

Ohio is one of four states to receive 65.9 million dollars in federal funding through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) HEALing Communities Study. The NIH aims to reduce overdose deaths by 40 percent over three years in selected communities, including Brown County, by testing a set of proven prevention and treatment interventions.

According to a joint press release from Ohio Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown, “The study will track communities as they reduce the incidence of opioid use disorder, increase the number of individuals receiving medication-based treatment for opioid use disorder, increase treatment retention beyond six months, provide recovery support services and expand the distribution of naloxone, a medication to reverse opioid overdose.”

About eighty percent of the felony cases before Brown County Common Pleas Judge Scott Gusweiler are related to drug addiction in some way.

“It’s been devastating. Between the loss of life, the financial crimes and the security issues with the burglaries. People are losing their kids or other family members. People are going to prison so their kids are being raised by grandparents or by the system,” Gusweiler said.

He added that he welcomed the help promised in the study.

“This is long overdue. Up to this point, there has not been any common ground on how to cope with this. Any collaborative efforts that we can do and any help we can get from anybody, I am more than willing to look at as long as it’s meaningful help.”

Brown County Commissioner Tony Applegate said that the announcement of the study was good news.

“Brown County is a prime candidate for any study that might have some answers for the opioid problem. It’s good to hear that the federal government realizes that this is a national emergency. I look forward to seeing how this plays out for our county.”

19 counties in Ohio were chosen to participate in the study, including Brown. The other counties are Allen, Ashtabula, Athens, Cuyahoga, Darke, Franklin, Guernsey, Greene, Hamilton, Huron, Jefferson, Lucas, Morrow, Ross, Scioto, Stark, Williams, and Wyandot.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 70,237 people died of an opiate overdose in the United States last year. Ohio has the second highest rate of overdose deaths in the country, behind only West Virginia. Besides Ohio, the study will also focus on communities in Kentucky, New York and Massachusetts.

The study will be conducted in the state by Ohio’s largest universities, including Ohio State University (OSU) and its partner universities, the University of Cincinnati, Ohio University, University of Toledo, Wright State University, and Case Western University.

“OSU will partner with at least 15 urban, suburban, and rural communities across the state to measure the impact of integrating evidence-based prevention, treatment and recovery interventions across primary care, behavioral health, justice and other settings in highly affected parts of the country,” according to Brown and Portman.

“This is great news for Ohio and our efforts to address the crisis of addiction in urban, suburban and rural areas of our state,” said Portman. “This funding will be used to implement a comprehensive approach to address this epidemic and I know it will make a real difference in our state. I want to thank NIH, Ohio State and its partner universities and I look forward to seeing the results of this ground-breaking study.”

Brown also talked about the problem of addiction.

“On average, 14 Ohioans die every day due to an opioid overdose. We must be doing everything in our power to fight this crisis on all fronts,” said Brown. “Over the next four years, this federal funding will provide a critical investment in the ground-breaking research happening at OSU and other institutions across the state to better prevent and treat addiction through traditional and creative approaches.”

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine also commented on the study in a separate press release.

“By participating in the HEALing Communities Study, Ohio can expand its efforts to address the substance use crisis that is taking a toll on families across the state in a comprehensive, collaborative way,” said DeWine. “The study joins my RecoveryOhio initiative with several of our state’s universities to improve and evaluate our state’s community-level infrastructure with the goal of reducing overdose deaths, encouraging treatment, and supporting recovery for all Ohioans.”

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