{"id":2273284,"date":"2024-06-21T08:04:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T12:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/two-thirds-of-opioid-trust-fund-unspent\/"},"modified":"2024-06-21T08:09:57","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T12:09:57","slug":"two-thirds-of-opioid-trust-fund-unspent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/two-thirds-of-opioid-trust-fund-unspent\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-thirds of opioid trust fund remains unused"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftwo-thirds-of-opioid-trust-fund-unspent%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2273284&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Pennsylvania Opioid\u2064 Trust, established \u200cto manage funds\u2062 from\u2064 national settlements for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-attorney-general-investigating-walmart-over-opioids\/\" title=\"Texas Attorney General Investigating Walmart Over Opioids\">opioid misuse<\/a>\u200d and \u2062addiction, \u200dhas made some progress in approving county projects, yet\u2064 a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-trump-please-create-an-executive-order-and-have-2020-ballots-and-images-audited-in-select-states-using-jovan-pulitzer-method\/\" title=\"President Trump PLEASE CREATE AN EXECUTIVE ORDER and Have 2020 Ballots and Images Audited in Select States Using Jovan Pulitzer Method\">significant amount<\/a> of the distributed\u2062 funds \u2062remains unspent. Although $200 million was allocated in 2021, only $70 million \u200dhas been used so far. Tom VanKirk,\u2064 chair of\u200b the trust, emphasized the urgency of spending the funds swiftly and appropriately. \u2063Counties, receiving 70% \u2062of these funds,\u2062 have faced difficulties with \u200cslow rollouts and complications in program implementation, resulting in granted \u2064extensions for\u200c spending deadlines. While the \u2062Trust approved most\u2063 of the 400 projects proposed by the counties in May, many still \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/studio-city-home-intruder-yelled-anti-semitic-insults-victims-claim\/\" title=\"Victims allege Studio City home intruder shouted anti-Semitic slurs.\">require additional information<\/a> or enhancements\u2063 for final approval.\u200c These projects\u200b must comply\u200c with specific approved uses to qualify for funding.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2014 The Pennsylvania Opioid Trust made progress in greenlighting county projects, but the majority of funds sent out since 2021 have yet to be spent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving sent our money out in 2021, we still have only spent $70 million of the more than $200 million,\u201d said Tom VanKirk, chair of the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust during a Thursday meeting. \u201cThere is still a need to get the money spent as quickly as possible on proper uses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Counties, which will receive 70% of the opioid trusts available from a number of national settlements, will be granted extensions beyond the spending deadline due to slow rollouts and growing pains in administering local programs.<\/p>\n<p>In May, the Trust <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/pennsylvania\/article_8ad80398-08cb-11ef-8651-fb2e827de757.html\">approved a majority<\/a><\/strong> of the 400 projects proposed by counties, but a significant chunk needed more information or improvements before the trust would approve them.<\/p>\n<p>To qualify for opioid money, projects need to adhere to the approved uses laid out in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paopioidtrust.org\/getmedia\/4877e10e-cb3f-44b7-acbc-465affc880e4\/Exhibit-E-List-of-Opioid-Remediation-Uses.pdf\">Exhibit E<\/a><\/strong>; money can\u2019t be spent in ways that are solely for policing or community needs, for example, but must have some sort of opioid-amelioration connection. For many projects that couldn\u2019t demonstrate a connection, the Trust categorized them as \u201cstill under consideration\u201d and rejected a minority of them outright. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn looking at this, we did not think it was fair to just say no, it is not compliant \u2014 or, on the other hand, without enough information, merely just say yes to it,\u201d VanKirk said. \u201cSo we are going to send those back for further consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Philadelphia\u2019s projects had stood out for lacking detail in its request for $11 million and got more vetting this time around.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was really the first time they had broken out the large block grants into mini-grants,\u201d VanKirk said. \u201cWe do believe most of them will be approved, but we gotta treat Philadelphia like everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A number of the city\u2019s projects, like outreach and prevention activities to connect people to addiction services, provide wound care, and get them off the street, received approval. The city proposed several community events as well, such as funds for youth sports leagues and educational programs, which did not receive approval. Board members wanted to see clearer connections to opioid-related activities, even if they supported the idea behind the programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBesides being a diversion into sports, will there be any educational component, any signs, any more of a connection to drug misuse?\u201d said Robert Postal, a Mifflin County Commissioner. \u201cNot simply well, we\u2019re diverting people into better behavior. We have to respect the intent of Exhibit E.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, some rural counties remain in the planning phases as others get approval and spend the funds. Forest County, one of the lowest-populated counties in the state, is still in the process of creating an opioid commission to send out funds.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pennsylvania Opioid Trust has approved county projects, yet most of the funds distributed since 2021 remain unspent. &#8220;Since sending out our money in 2021, only $70 million of the over $200 million has been spent,&#8221; stated Tom VanKirk, the chair of the trust<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2273285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP22330774288289.jpg.optimal.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2273284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP22330774288289.jpg.optimal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2273284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2273284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2273284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2273285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2273284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2273284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2273284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}