Board approves Phase 2 opioid-settlement investments including analytics platform, jail MAT and naloxone distribution

Merced County supervisors on April 8 unanimously approved staff recommendations for Phase 2 use of opioid-settlement funds to expand the county’s overdose-prevention and treatment efforts.

Assistant County Executive Officer Mark Hendrickson framed Phase 2 as a shift from Phase 1’s heavy emphasis on education (youth outreach and mailed Deterra drug-deactivation pouches) to enhanced surveillance and treatment. Hendrickson invited the district attorney, sheriff’s office and behavioral-health officials to summarize proposed investments and expected benefits.

District Attorney Nicole Silvera said Phase 1 outreach to schools coincided with a reduction in overdose deaths among 18–25-year-olds from 2023 to 2024 in the county and said Phase 2 will add technology to give staff and investigators more timely, local data. Lieutenant Framstead described the proposed analytics platform (referred to in the presentation as Peregrine/Paradigm Technologies), saying it would ingest CAD, RMS, body-worn camera and other data to identify overdose “hot spots,” Narcan usage, and high-risk scenes, and to support resource deployment and prosecutions.

Captain Greg Sullivan (Sheriff’s Department) described a plan to add medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in the jail population, saying the county plans to budget $300,000 into next fiscal year to expand MAT services, combine them with a jail medical provider through an RFP process and provide warm handoffs to community providers after release.

Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) staff reported Phase 1 activity including the Deterra mailing (27,559 kits mailed in December 2024) and asked for Phase 2 funding to distribute naloxone and fentanyl-test strips (BHRS requested at least 1,200 naloxone kits), create naloxone-display stands and train county staff. BHRS also requested seed funding for a community-driven opioid response coalition and start-up funding for a MAT clinic to operate from BHRS’s Thirteenth Street facility.

Staff said Phase 2 investments total approximately $1,565,000 and are intended to align with prior board-approved strategic objectives. Supervisors asked about medication shelf life and logistics; BHRS clarified that naloxone kits have expiration dates (staff cited two- to four-year ranges depending on product) and that MAT medications would be prescribed through pharmacies rather than stocked by BHRS. The board unanimously approved CEO items that included the Phase 2 recommendations.