Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission talks about 2025 grant priorities; AG Coleman appoints new member

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Members of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission spent more than an hour drilling down on what their priorities are for the next round of grant money, with plans for a finalized draft of the document to be ready at the November meeting.

“So our intention as staff is to use this to start drafting the notice of fundings, which we then hope to share with you, likely at the November meeting,” said Jessie Halladay, deputy director of the commission, who led the discussion. “And then, the intention would be to open up the grant after that meeting.”

The legislature created the commission in 2021 to distribute the state’s portion of approximately $900 million in settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors, with half of the money going to the state and the other half going to local governments.

The money is provided in installments. So far, the state has awarded 110 grants worth more than $55 million for treatment, prevention and recovery.

The commission agreed to adopt the five principles suggested by Johns Hopkins’ “Principles for the Use of Funds From Opioid Litigation” to guide their priorities. Those principles are to spend the money to save lives, to use evidence to guide spending, to invest in youth prevention, to focus on racial equity and to develop a fair and transparent process for deciding where to spend the funding.

The commission agreed to expand the definition of “equity” in the guiding principles to be more inclusive and to include any community that has a need.

2025 grant priorities

The commission agreed to break the grant applications into two notices of funding that would likely be introduced at the same time. Halladay said this is needed to help applicants understand whether they are applying for a treatment and recovery grant or a prevention grant, and to help the commission know which committee to assign applications to.

When it comes to treatment and recovery grants, the commission agreed that any grant application that requests funding for recovery beds would need to explain the need since Kentucky leads the nation in such beds.

There also was a discussion about the need for more recovery support, for things such as housing and transportation.

Barrier relief funds, which includes legal aid and childcare assistance, were also listed as a priority. After a long discussion, the commission members agreed that there was a need for housing assistance, but with some strong guardrails. Van Ingram, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, also asked for Recovery Community Centers to be added to this list as a priority.

The commission agreed that the prevention grant priorities would focus on youth prevention, both in and out of the school setting, and overdose prevention.

Commission Director Chris Evans, who works for Attorney General Russell Coleman, announced early in the meeting that the request for information to support an innovation grant has been published. He said this is looking at ways to support innovative interventions to curb opioid addiction. He said a link to this website will be added to the website and that the solicitation will be open until Dec. 2.

Among other things, the commission discussed recovery housing and the need to update the applications to ask if the grantee had applied for local opioid abatement settlement money or if they are receiving funding from other grants, and if their project addressed a service gap. They also talked about how to address continuation funding and the need to create a “stepdown” funding model for such projects.

Evans concluded the meeting by thanking the commissioners for their work.

“This is a great part of the effort to making sure that the funds are utilized in the best way that they can be for the commonwealth,” he said. “So for you all to do this is a part of that process of making sure that we continue to get better in terms of how the funds are allocated, how they’re used, and making sure they get to all the people that need them the best way that they can.”

New appointment to the commission

Coleman appointed Debbie Rains, of Louisville, to the commission to represent victims of the opioid crisis.

Rains brings nearly four decades of teaching experience to the panel, as well as a personal connection to the commission’s work, according to a news release announcing her appointment.

Rains told commissioners at the Oct. 8 meeting that she lost her son Zac in 2015 to a fentanyl overdose after a 10-year battle with addiction. He was 24.

“You can understand, probably, why it is a privilege for me to be placed in this position,” she said. “You know, hopefully, my experience and my family’s experience and the love for my child can give you some insight.”

The release adds that Rains has channeled her loss into action, joining the Heroin Education Action Team with the U.S. Attorneys for the Western and Eastern Districts of Kentucky. The program focuses on drug education and prevention in places such as schools, law enforcement trainings and addiction conferences.

“I’ve heard Debbie deliver her incredible prevention message, making a lifechanging impact on Kentucky’s young people,” Coleman said in the release. “In honoring her son Zac, she will bring an invaluable perspective to the commission’s work to save lives from drug abuse in Kentucky.”

The commission has nine voting and two non-voting members.

Evans thanked the departing members of the commission at the September meeting, including Karen Butcher, representing citizens at large, and non-voting members Rep. Danny Bentley, appointed by House Speaker David Osborne, and Carlos Cameron, appointed by Senate President Robert Stivers.

Rep. Chris Fugate, R-Chavies (Perry County), and Karen Kelly, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-5th District, replaced Bentley and Cameron respectively, also as non-voting members.

In addition to Evans, Ingram and Rains, other members of the commission are Republican state Treasurer Mark Metcalf; Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander, who works for Gov. Andy Beshear; Von Purdy, a vice president of Simmons College in Louisville, representing citizens at large; Darren “Foot” Allen, a retired state trooper, representing law enforcement; Jason Roop, of Campbellsville, assistant professor of business and theology at Campbellsville University, representing victims of the opioid crisis; and Patricia Freeman, professor of University of Kentucky‘s College of Pharmacy.