El Paso and Teller counties are expected to receive $66 million through 2038 to address the opioid epidemic, a scourge that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives nationally.

A regional council awarded the first round of that funding, about $3.8 million, in April. The council left about $1.1 million in reserve to fund additional youth prevention programs, said Amanda Grant, an El Paso County finance employee who works with the council. She said the region is currently expected to receive $66 million, although the number will fluctuate depending on settlement outcomes.

The board is composed of 15 officials from El Paso and Teller counties, including county commissioners, city and town council members and law enforcement representatives. At the April meeting, six voting members attended and another five members sent proxies to vote on their behalf to dole out the funds for youth and community prevention, medication assisted treatment and family advocates for those who lost someone to an overdose. The money will also fund recovery support, such as sober living homes.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office received almost a third of all the grant funding and expects to use it on youth prevention and jail-based programs. Much of the other funding was split across nonprofits working in drug treatment and prevention.

Teller County Commissioner and the council’s vice chair Erik Stone said the epidemic has cut across all races and economic strata and the ongoing funding from federal settlements offers an opportunity for innovation.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to make a difference,” he said.

Last year, El Paso County saw 212 deaths related to drugs, down slightly from 216 the previous year, said Coroner Dr. Leon Kelly, who is also a member of the council.

Fentanyl was involved in 123 deaths last year, up from 115 the pervious year, part of a six-year rise in deaths related to the synthetic opioid. The county saw five fentanyl related deaths in 2017, Kelly said. His office is also detecting new fentanyl analogues of even higher potency.

“The past few years there has clearly been an acceleration of novel and highly potent illicit drugs entering the drug supply chain and I can only expect that will continue,” he said in a written statement.

While $66 million seems like a lot of money, Kelly said, addressing addiction is still a huge challenge given the scope and a relative lack of success over more than 50 years.

He would like to see effective support and treatment for those with addictions, including increased access to medication assisted therapies, work to address the presence of drugs and minimize risk to those in early stages of abuse and and effective youth prevention that provides emotional and intellectual tools, he said. Medication-assisted therapy is typically done in association with counseling and can help stave off withdrawal symptoms.

Over the next decade, Stone has high hopes for the tens of millions of dollars the region will receive to provide treatment and prevention and he expects that work will be informed by data.

“We want to restore families,” Stone said.

El Paso and Teller counties are expected to receive $66 million through 2038 to address the opioid epidemic, a scourge that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives nationally.

A regional council awarded the first round of that funding, about $3.8 million, in April. The council left about $1.1 million in reserve to fund additional youth prevention programs, said Amanda Grant, an El Paso County finance employee who works with the council. She said the region is currently expected to receive $66 million, although the number will fluctuate depending on settlement outcomes.

The board is composed of 15 officials from El Paso and Teller counties, including county commissioners, city and town council members and law enforcement representatives. At the April meeting, six voting members attended and another five members sent proxies to vote on their behalf to dole out the funds for youth and community prevention, medication assisted treatment and family advocates for those who lost someone to an overdose. The money will also fund recovery support, such as sober living homes.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office received almost a third of all the grant funding and expects to use it on youth prevention and jail-based programs. Much of the other funding was split across nonprofits working in drug treatment and prevention.

Teller County Commissioner and the council’s vice chair Erik Stone said the epidemic has cut across all races and economic strata and the ongoing funding from federal settlements offers an opportunity for innovation.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to make a difference,” he said.

Last year, El Paso County saw 212 deaths related to drugs, down slightly from 216 the previous year, said Coroner Dr. Leon Kelly, who is also a member of the council.

Fentanyl was involved in 123 deaths last year, up from 115 the pervious year, part of a six-year rise in deaths related to the synthetic opioid. The county saw five fentanyl related deaths in 2017, Kelly said. His office is also detecting new fentanyl analogues of even higher potency.

“The past few years there has clearly been an acceleration of novel and highly potent illicit drugs entering the drug supply chain and I can only expect that will continue,” he said in a written statement.

While $66 million seems like a lot of money, Kelly said, addressing addiction is still a huge challenge given the scope and a relative lack of success over more than 50 years.

He would like to see effective support and treatment for those with addictions, including increased access to medication assisted therapies, work to address the presence of drugs and minimize risk to those in early stages of abuse and and effective youth prevention that provides emotional and intellectual tools, he said. Medication-assisted therapy is typically done in association with counseling and can help stave off withdrawal symptoms.

Effective youth prevention

Nate Riggs, executive director of the CSU Prevention Research Center, expects the large award of about $659,000 his organization received will help fund a prevention needs assessment and help train people already working with youth on effective prevention.

“Working with community partners, so that it is done right, we can save lives and save money,” he said.

Effective prevention helps students learn how to regulate emotions, so they don’t feel the need to use substances, he said. It also helps them build their communication skills. One-time presentations telling students about the dangers of substance abuse aren’t effective, Riggs said.

His organization works with groups, such as the Boys and Girls Club, to help their staff understand how to do prevention so it can be sustainable over time, he said.

One of the challenges in designing youth prevention for El Paso County could be a lack of data through the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey that gauges youth use of substances, such as marijuana, alcohol and pain killers. Not enough students participate in the survey to provide results.

Riggs said his organization will try to identify other sources of data and work with local organizations to identify specific problems in the community.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office received the second largest grant in the youth prevention category of about $271,000 to reintroduce the DARE program, or Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, into schools. A presentation provided to the council said Widefield School District 3 and Lewis-Palmer School District 38 have agreed to host the program in the fall.

According to the American Addiction Centers, the DARE program has been reworked in recent years from one-time presentations on the risk of drugs to a series of lessons that teach skills such as coping and decision-making skills.

Over the next decade, Stone has high hopes for the tens of millions of dollars the region will receive to provide treatment and prevention and he expects that work will be informed by data.

“We want to restore families,” Stone said.