Terms of opioid settlement accepted

City could receive between $93K and $133K, Mayor Greg Zilka says

The city of Avon Lake will join other Ohio communities in accepting the terms of a legal settlement between the state of Ohio and three large pharmaceutical companies for damages resulting from the impact of the opioid addiction crisis.

In a special meeting Aug. 12, Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka said the city is expecting to receive somewhere between $93,000 and $133,000 out of an $829 million settlement package over a period of 18 years with pharmaceutical companies AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.

Johnson & Johnson has yet to settle with Ohio as legal proceedings continue.

If Avon Lake receives the lower amount of $93,000, it would amount to approximately $4,500 annually.

Under the OneOhio agreement settlement, the $829 million is earmarked for the abatement of the opioid epidemic for intervention, treatment and recovery services with 15 percent going to the state, 30 percent to subdivisions and 55 percent to the OneOhio Foundation.

“Both the Attorney General (Dave Yost) and the governor (Mike DeWine) feel it’s a good thing to do, and it certainly is an effort for us to try to deal with the dramatic increase in opiate addiction that the number of deaths in Lorain County have dramatically increased over the last several years, and we’ve been preoccupied with COVID as these numbers are creeping up on us,” Zilka said.

The mayor added that Avon Lake Council is examining a couple of different options on how to use the money, including working with Avon Lake City School District to in support of their opioid education curriculum in addition to donating some of the funds to The LCADA Way, a local service agency that assists individuals with substance abuse disorders.

According the Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County, 138 individuals died of drug overdoses in 2020, a record, which is close to doubling the number from 2019.

The agency believes the trends are continuing to move upward with the likelihood that Lorain County will surpass its record.

Ohio municipalities were under an Aug. 13 deadline from the state to pass resolutions accepting the terms of the settlement.

Avon City Council and Lorain County commissioners passed similar resolutions earlier this week on Aug. 11 and Aug. 9, respectively.