Oregon health officials agreed to expand treatment for opioids using money from national settlements with drugmakers and distributors such as Purdue, CVS and Johnson & Johnson for their role in fueling the opioid epidemic.
Oregon’s Opioid Settlement Board approved $13 million for mobile units, as well as brick and mortar facilities, that will provide access to methadone in dedicated parts of the state where that kind of medication-assisted treatment is sparse.
Methadone is a controlled substance that most people have to take daily at a clinic licensed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. That has limited access to the drug, especially in rural Oregon.
The money will be distributed by the Oregon Health Authority.
FILE: Unidentified people with drug paraphernalia in downtown Portland, Ore.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Around $3.9 million will be allocated to a new treatment program serving Oregon City, another in rural Clackamas County and another serving Multnomah County. The programs could be mobile or nonmobile treatment options.
Another $9.1 million is allocated for programs in Klamath County, another in the Columbia River Gorge, one in eastern Lane County, two along the coast, and two in northeastern Oregon.
The board also approved $250,000 for Oregon Health & Sciences University to provide advice to local jails that want to set up opioid treatment programs.
Over the course of the next 18 years, the state is set to receive some $600 million as part of legal settlements reached with pharmacies and opioid manufacturers.