Olmsted County gets millions in opioid settlement

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(ABC 6 News) – Olmsted County has received 7.6 million dollars in an opioid settlement.

Now, the county board of commissioners has better idea of how it will be used with one stipulation: it can only be used for opioid prevention and recovery.

An advisory group came up with four areas on where to immediately focus the money.

They are: wider access to narcan, more prevention strategies and better transitions between recovery services and more harm reduction programs.

“If I decide today that I’m going to address my addiction and I want to go somewhere and get help, it’s very likely that that’s not going to happen today. Because I’m going to have some hoops to jump through, and i’m going to have some lines to wait in,” Deputy County Administrator Travis Gransee said.

The county says it will be sending this money to a number pf local organizations for the next 18 years.