Officials plead for voice for victims in opioid deal

Jamie Decker has lost friends to opiate overdoses and seen others' lives ruined by addiction. He's one of several people who have said recently that the voices of those most closely affected aren't being heard as the state determines how to spend a large portion of its funds from a settlement reached last year with three major drug distributors for their role in the opioid crisis. "Nobody is asking us what to do with this money," said Decker, who is himself in recovery and works as a peer support specialist at Hancock Public Health. "I want people that have suffered from this to have a voice." The OneOhio Recovery Foundation oversees $440 million from the $808 million settlement reached last year. The Columbus Dispatch reported in June that there have been concerns about transparency. The settlement calls for OneOhio to be a private foundation, but a memorandum detailing the settlement calls for open meetings and for documents to be publicly available as they would with a public entity, the Dispatch reported. Yet the foundation has stated it's not subject to open meeting laws, and "kept its working group meetings private," the Dispatch reported. Gary Bright, injury prevention supervisor at Hancock Public Health, said he feels OneOhio has "definitely not made enough of an effort to have the voices of people with lived experience" in making the decision, including those who are in recovery, those currently using drugs and families of those who have died of overdoses. Sharona Bishop, another peer support specialist, added those who should have a voice include grandparents who are raising grandchildren because of their parents' drug use. "They need to be asking those folks directly," Bright said. He likened it to a court case, in which a victim can make a statement about how the crime has affected them. Bright said state decision-makers could replicate the work of local organizations that have made an effort to make sure people like Decker were included. Decker said that at first, people with lived experience were invited to these local conversations "as long as we said what's comfortable." Over time, those relationships have strengthened, with others making an effort to genuinely hear their feedback — even if they might say something that's hard to hear. "To their credit, they listened when people with lived experience told them those difficult things," Bright said. He cited the Hancock County Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services and its Opiate and Addictions Task Force as examples. Arthurs: 419-427-8494