As Pima County grapples with the far-reaching tentacles of the opioid epidemic, efforts to combat the crisis are receiving a vital financial injection. Over 2,000 lives have been claimed by opioid overdoses in the past five years within the county, with many victims initially falling prey to prescription medications such as OxyContin and Percocet before spiraling into the abyss of illicit drugs like heroin. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than heroin, have only exacerbated the problem. Dr. Francisco Garcia, Pima County's Chief Medical Officer, has been a pivotal figure in the fight against this public health emergency.
Garcia, wielding decades of experience in public health, has effectively worked to secure millions in settlement funds to support the county's battle against addiction. Pima County joined the "One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement" under the state attorney general's office in 2021, a deal set to distribute Arizona's $1.14 billion portion of the settlement over 18 years. According to a statement released by the county, Garcia has been crucial from the onset not only in securing Pima County's share but also in ensuring the funds are utilized effectively and equitably.
The battle against opioids is being fought on multiple fronts, including providing $100,000 grants for services to pregnant and parenting women battling addiction and $300,000 for mobile medication-assisted treatment services. Additionally, funds are also helping to make naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses, widely accessible to the public. This concerted effort has seen the plateauing of overdose deaths despite the inconsistency of when the settlement funds arrive—a challenge that Garcia acknowledges. "We got four different payments in March after not having anything for many months, so it's really hard to plan for how this money will be used when we don't know how it's coming in," Garcia told Pima County News.
As of Garcia's latest update, Pima County has to already begin putting the money to work received $16.8 million, with expectations of receiving around $90 million as more companies involved in the opioid supply chain settle. While the challenge of distributing these funds is formidable, they provide a beacon of hope as 2024 is showing a potential downtrend in opioid-related fatalities compared to 2023. "I think that's because we have undertaken a strategy that involves flooding the community with Narcan, so people aren't dying from these overdoses the way they are in some other places," Garcia explained in an interview with Pima County News.
