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How should Palm Beach County use $118M from opioid settlements?

'It's about adopting a system of care that we can use for years and years to come,' Micah Robbins says
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PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Palm Beach County commissioners are discussing how to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fight the opioid epidemic.

At a Tuesday meeting, the Office of Community Services and the Opioids Response Team presented a plan to the commissioners.

They presented recommendations on how to best spend $118 million following three lawsuit settlements.

Micah Robbins outlines how the county can benefit from these settlement funds.
Micah Robbins outlines how the county can benefit from these settlement funds.

No decisions were made Tuesday, but it allowed commissioners a chance to ask questions about the new plan.

Micah Robbins, the acting director of Operations Community Recovery HUB in Palm Beach County, said if the plan is approved, it could be a game changer in keeping our community safe from opioids for generations to come.

"The biggest piece is understanding that we are doing things systemically," Robbins said. "Now, it's not about one program getting these dollars or another program getting those. That's not what this is about. It's about adopting a system of care that we can use for years and years to come and be responsive and reactive to the things that we know we're going to encounter."

Later this summer, the board will have a chance to review the changes and make a decision.

That should happen in June or July, according to Robbins.