11-04-2025
Decatur looks to spend $1.79 million drugmaker settlement on opioid recovery support
Apr. 11—The city of Decatur has so far received $1.79 million in opioid settlement money from pharmaceutical companies, and the state attorney general recently advised that it must be spent on opioid recovery services.
Endo Health Solutions, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharma and McKesson Corp. are among the companies involved in the settlements.
With state Attorney General Steve Marshall's instructions on how the money must be spent in hand, the Decatur City Council is considering proposals from Partnership for a Drug-Free Community, a Huntsville-based nonprofit.
City Chief Financial Officer Kyle Demeester said he, Mayor Tab Bowling and City Attorney Herman Marks recently participated in an online video conference with Marshall, who told leaders of cities how the money could be spent.
"It's very much tied to the (opioid) crisis," Demeester said of the settlement money. "We don't have a lot of options."
Partnership for a Drug-Free Community won a request for proposal through the state to provide opioid-related recovery support services for Madison, Marshal, Limestone and Morgan counties.
Recently retired Director Cheryl Russell and new Director Kim Lamar presented the proposal on behalf of Partnership for a Drug-Free Community at Monday's council meeting. The nonprofit already has agreements with Huntsville, Madison and Ardmore. It also has plans to meet with other north Alabama city officials.
Russell said they met four times with Decatur officials to decide "what a relationship with Partnership would look like."
They presented two options, both of which would be on a four-year contract. The first option is at a lower cost of $467,678 because the services would be provided out of its Huntsville office at 2608 Artie St.
The second option is for $1.7 million, with the services provided out of a fully staffed office in Decatur.
Bowling said they discussed in the meetings starting with an office in Decatur, but decided they prefer beginning with the option of providing services out of the Huntsville office.
"We thought we would crawl before we walk," Bowling said.
Russell said they know they would be more effective if they are in the city, but that comes with a lot of additional expenses required to have an office.
She said they have eight employees in its Artie Street office, which gives Partnership the current capacity to help Decatur.
Lamar said Partnership is a recovery resource at no cost for a person struggling with addiction, or a family member or friend of the addiction.
"If they call us, we immediately start helping that person," Lamar said.
She said they would do an assessment as soon as possible. This could include doing assessments by teleconference, if necessary.
"If someone needs help, you can't wait until tomorrow because they're going to change their minds," Lamar said. "It's very important to act quickly."
They then send an assessment to three certified agencies in the state and to the client, she said.
"We have peer support who immediately becomes involved and walks that person through the process," Lamar said.
She said it's unfortunate that there are very few ways to get treatment in Alabama, "so a big portion of what we do is daily motivation. We also provide other things to meet family needs like food and shelter."
Lamar said the Partnership provides family support and, once they know they have a bed, provides transportation when necessary to a treatment facility. There would be limited scholarships available to access treatment. The nonprofit also provides fentanyl test strips, Narcan training and public information training.
According to the proposal, Partnership will provide an administrator, a certified recovery specialist, case manager and certified licensed clinical assessor and community volunteers.
Ladner said the council will review the proposals and would likely have more questions at a future meeting.
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