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- Final decisions on the projects will be made by the Legislature in the upcoming session.
A list of projects that will be submitted to the Mississippi Legislature was finalized by the state’s Opioid Settlement Council this week. Final approval of any projects will be made by lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session.
Over the next 15 years, hundreds of millions of dollars will flow into Mississippi from a settlement between the state and drug companies that allegedly profited from citizens’ use of opioids, some of which became addicted the drugs and overdosed.
The process in making the recommendations included reranking some projects due to perceived issues with their application or because council members determined that certain projects fit better in the non-abatement category. The non-abatement category consists of projects that do not have to meet the more stringent criteria of being solely for opioid treatment and prevention. Those projects will come out of a pot of about $14 million, equating to about 15 percent of the total funding.
Most major adjustments occurred within tiers one and two, which are the categories most likely to receive funding before the monies run out for the first year. The opioid settlement will be dispersed through multiple years to fund projects aimed at abating and treating those effected by the improper use of opioids.
One of the changes related to a submission from Essential Touchstone. That change entailed a request for $1.15 million to provide “evidence-based, trauma-informed care and reduce opioid related hospitalizations, overdoses and arrests.”
Chief Justice Michael Randolph made the motion to move the application from its previous rank of tier two further down in the structure due to financial concerns. He cited a lack of financial information in the application, particularly related to the organization’s lack of transparency. Randolph also voiced concern that the entity that has equity in the program is unknown.
“So, I’m just asking that be removed from that tier level until we can find out the answers to those questions,” Randolph said.
Ultimately, it was moved down to tier three.
An application from Jacob’s Well was also amended due to a requirement in the organization’s program preventing participants from being able to take medications prescribed by a doctor. Council member Mark Stovall suggested caution in making that amendment.
“Prescribed medication doesn’t necessarily mean safe medication. And there’s lots of doctors that prescribe medication that’s unneeded, so I just want to be careful how we put this language in,” Stovall explained.
As such, a motion was passed stating that any programs that are approved cannot prevent a person access to their prescribed medications, with the caveat that additional language would be considered during the legislative process to prevent abuse, if the application moves forward.
Another application of note was from Stercus Bioanalytics, which requested $8.8 million to “provide insights into opioid consumption across Mississippi.”
The company proposes to use wastewater sampling technology to trace the use of opioids that might be present at certain facilities, such as universities or public buildings. An initial amendment to ensure the technology would not be used on private residences was removed before it was approved.
State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney said the technology is used by health departments to trace whether communicable diseases are present. In terms of toxicology, however, Edney said that wastewater surveillance has been used nationwide for the past five years.
“We do know in the addiction world and in the public health world it does not help from an abatement standpoint. We get more data from the toxicology from the Medical Examiner’s Office than from wastewater,” Edney said.
He added that multiple states are looking at this technology, including from a law enforcement standpoint. Use of the technology requires access to the wastewater discharged from a specific residence or facility. That access can determine the amount of opioids coming out of schools, neighborhoods or other structures.
Council member Chief Adam Cooper said the technology has been used in Mississippi for law enforcement purposes and it does work.
“Something we’re missing, I think, is getting ahead of the game. We’re all about treatment in here but we haven’t talked about stopping the drugs from getting there,” Cooper added. “We’re spending a lot of money on a lot of treatment systems, or recommending, but we have done nothing to stop the drugs from getting there.”
Stercus Bioanalytics proposes to analyze wastewater from those facilities to gather data to determine if, where, and how much opioid use is prevalent.
The technology also has the capability to identify if the drugs are street grade or pharmaceutical grade, and it has the ability to determine if the home or facility is being used to produce the drugs since it can determine if the drug has been metabolized or not.
An initial motion to ensure the testing was not used on private residences was amended by Judge Brad Touchstone to remove that caveat.
In the end, the Council approved a motion to move the application up to tier two and reduce the funding, if approved, to $2 million.
In other business, the Council approved a motion to move all applications from fire and police departments to the non-adjudicated category.
As the Council’s work wound down for the year, one member of the council, James Moore, expressed concern about how the nearly 100 submitted projects were graded. He cautioned against what could be perceived as conflicts of interest from members related to various projects. To alleviate that, Moore suggested utilizing outside groups who are assisting other states with similar work in the future.
The Council’s work this year to recommend projects from the settlement funding is the first go-round. It will be an annual effort by the Council, parsing through projects and then sending those recommendations to lawmakers for consideration.
