By Savannah Eller
The Gazette
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. 鈥� With the processing of new settlements, El Paso and Teller counties are expected to receive about $75 million to combat opioid addiction and deaths over the next 18 years 鈥� an increase to estimates when the counties created a joint council to disburse funds.
Last year, the Region 16 Opioid Abatement Council figures had the overall total closer to $66 million awarded by 2038. The funding boost is meant to sustain community programs addressing different facets of the opioid epidemic.
鈥淭he vast majority has either not been allocated or not been received,鈥� said Erik Stone, Teller County commissioner and council vice chair.
The estimate reflects updates in the nationwide legal process to hold major drug manufacturers financially accountable through payments to states, said Amanda Grant, El Paso County deputy chief financial officer.
Prescription opioids were involved in a peak of 17,029 deaths nationwide in 2017, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In 2023, overall overdose deaths reached 220 in El Paso County, primarily involving the drug fentanyl.
Numbers for 2024 have not yet been publicly released by the county coroner鈥檚 office.
This week, the first part of the legal process to receive new settlement money began in El Paso and Teller counties. Local government may now 鈥渙pt in鈥� to settlements decided with a handful of companies like Purdue Pharma, which alone is required in a June agreement to pay out about $75 million to Colorado over 16 installments.
How is the money being used?
Per agreements reached in 2021, local governments in Colorado directly receive 20% of the settlement money distributed to the state. The Region 16 Opioid Abatement Council consolidates the shares for its member counties and municipalities.
Over the past few months, Region 16 has been meeting to decide on dozens of applications for the latest round of funding disbursements. This is the second year of the council funding projects 鈥� in spring of 2024, the 15-person council awarded about $3.8 million.
This year, Stone says the council is hoping to put more spending toward youth prevention programs, for which about $1.1 million was left in reserve last year.
鈥淲hat the council is looking for initially is new ideas, new expansions,鈥� he said.
Last year, the council awarded more than $650,000 to Colorado State University to complete a needs study on youth prevention in Region 16. Nate Riggs, executive director of the CSU Prevention Research Center, said that the assessment was nearing completion.
An emphasis for the CSU center is evidence-based programming and methods, said Riggs. Prevention methods with results that can be quantified are the kinds he focuses on, ideally with the capacity for randomized control trials. Otherwise, he says programs have the capacity to do more harm than good in preventing addiction for children later in life.
鈥淵ou want to make sure you鈥檙e capitalizing on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use these funds on programs that are going to work,鈥� he said.
Funding for 2025 has not been finalized yet, but the council has so far awarded nearly $3 million from its January applicants.
The nonprofit Homeward Pikes Peak received the largest grant so far at over $500,000 for street outreach, sober living and outpatient treatment. Serenity Recovery, Hope COS and Crossroads Turning Point are also large grant recipients.
The Colorado Springs Fire Department received $300,000 for its Community Health and Public Health Division to administer a program to help high-risk El Paso County jail inmates transition back into the community. Inmates with drug dependency, history of homelessness, mental illness or who are in need of chronic medical care apply under the program鈥檚 criteria.
Youth prevention strategy
This year鈥檚 round of funding so far has put more emphasis into youth prevention. Four programs have been funded so far at a total of about $640,000, while two more youth prevention applicant organizations are still under consideration.
Missing from the list this year was 2024鈥檚 second-largest youth prevention funding recipient, the El Paso County Sheriff鈥檚 Office, to reintroduce the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, or DARE, into area schools. Last year鈥檚 grant was for about $271,000.
The Sheriff鈥檚 Office did not reply to a request to comment on the status of the program.
Another notable expense for the opioid council in the area of youth prevention is a contract with One Chance to Grow Up, a Colorado-based organization that advocates for protections against marijuana use among children. The council awarded the organization a separate $374,000 contract for a media campaign to increase awareness of high-potency THC and its potential harms.
The organization was also awarded a separate $194,000 grant this year in the area of youth prevention.
THC is the psychoactive compound in cannabis plants. The concentration considered high potency varies from source to source. According to the National Institute of Health, higher concentrations of THC have been linked to a greater risk of developing cannabis use disorder.
Stone said the council was concerned about the potential harmful effects of the substance on youth, as well as its possible connection to abuse of other drugs.
鈥淭he number of people using high-potency THC prior to using opioids is extremely high,鈥� said Stone.
Riggs said the purpose of the CSU Prevention Research Center was to prevent all substance misuse, and when it came to cannabis and opioids it was 鈥渉ard to disentangle that trajectory.鈥�
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漏 2025 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.).
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