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County leaders, first responders urge Senate to restore naloxone and overdose-prevention funding in HB 96
Summary
Hamilton and Clermont county officials, police chiefs and addiction-response coalitions told the Senate Health Committee cuts to overdose and naloxone funding in the House budget would reverse progress in reducing overdose deaths and asked the Senate to restore the Department of Health line item.
Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus, Clermont County leaders and multiple first responders urged the Senate Health Committee to restore overdose-prevention funding the House reduced in HB 96, saying naloxone distribution has saved lives and enabled entry into treatment.
Commissioner Driehaus said widespread naloxone distribution across Hamilton County has helped reduce overdose fatalities by 51% since 2017 and described naloxone as "one of the most vital tools our firefighters and paramedics carry." She asked senators to restore the governor's proposed funding for strategies to reduce overdose deaths and to reverse the House's reductions.
Clermont County Commissioner David Painter said early adoption of comprehensive local responses — treatment access, naloxone distribution and harm reduction — produced major reductions in unintentional overdose deaths in their county. Chief Thomas Thinnan of the Newtown Police Department recounted saving many lives with naloxone during the surge of carfentanil-related overdoses in 2016 and stressed the need to keep naloxone widely available to first responders and the public.
Speakers asked that the Senate fully restore the Department of Health's chronic disease, injury prevention and drug-overdose line item (line item number cited in written testimony) to the governor's levels so naloxone distribution programs, first-responder supplies and community harm-reduction initiatives can continue.
No committee action was taken during the hearing; witnesses requested restoration of funding during final budget negotiations.
