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County leaders and first responders tell Senate cuts to overdose strategy funding would endanger lives
Summary
Hamilton and Clermont county officials, county addiction coalitions and law-enforcement leaders urged the Senate to restore House cuts to overdose-prevention funding in HB 96, saying naloxone distribution and related programs reduced overdose deaths and that cuts would reverse recent declines.
Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus and Clermont County Commissioner David Painter told the Senate Health Committee that reductions in overdose-prevention funding proposed by the House risked reversing substantial local progress. Driehaus said Hamilton County has distributed “well over 30,000 doses of naloxone” through public health, EMS, fire departments and community partners and credited the effort with a 51 percent drop in overdose fatalities since 2017.
Commissioner Painter and Chief Thomas Thinnan of Newtown Police described naloxone as a life-saving tool that provides a moment for connection to treatment and recovery services. Thinnan said first responders and community members using naloxone saved many lives during a 2016 fentanyl surge and stressed that the drug had saved “over 110,000 Ohioans” nationwide in the past decade as a result of wider availability.
Witnesses urged the Senate to amend the budget to restore the Department of Health’s chronic disease, injury prevention and drug-overdose line-item funding to governor-requested levels (witnesses cited the department line item 440482 in their testimony) and warned that loss of that funding would reduce naloxone distribution and associated outreach.
Why it matters: Multiple county leaders and first responders presented local overdose-distribution data and argued that state-level funding helps maintain naloxone availability, supports outreach and creates touchpoints for treatment. They asked the Senate to restore funding removed in the House version of HB 96 to protect public safety and preserve recent reductions in fatal overdoses.
No formal votes were taken; the testimony was a request to restore funding in the Senate's version of the budget.
