Opioid settlement funds support addiction recovery in Owsley County

Owsley County’s opioid response is now tied to a $320,000 regional award, with settlement money flowing into The Hub initiative that already serves families across eastern Kentucky. For Owsley residents, the question is not whether the funding exists, but whether it reaches treatment, transportation and recovery support fast enough to make a difference.

In April, Attorney General Russell Coleman announced the grant for the Kentucky River District Health Department’s Hub program, which now operates in four rural counties: Knott, Lee, Letcher and Owsley. The district itself serves Knott, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Owsley, Perry and Wolfe counties, making Owsley part of a larger public health system rather than an isolated county effort.

Kentucky’s opioid settlement money is split in two. State officials finalized the national settlement in 2022 at more than $900 million, with 50 percent going directly to counties and cities and 50 percent managed by the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission. Coleman’s April 23 grant announcement came as the commission continued distributing settlement dollars statewide, with more than 100 organizations sharing nearly $34 million in the latest round and more than $85 million allocated to 130 organizations so far.

Owsley County has already put local resources behind the model. The Owsley County Fiscal Court provided a dedicated building, donated a 15-passenger van and put up $20,000 in startup funds for The Hub in Owsley County. That matters in a place where transportation has long been one of the biggest barriers to care, and where missing a ride can mean missing counseling, medication-assisted treatment or a recovery meeting.

The Hub’s services in Owsley include risk reduction, peer support, recovery coaching, case management, linkage to treatment and MAT, transportation assistance, barrier relief, hygiene and basic-needs support and recovery meetings. The program also helps people in recovery train for in-demand career fields, a sign that settlement money is being aimed not just at short-term crisis response but at keeping people stable long enough to work again.

The model began in Lee County in 2022 and has since spread across the Kentucky River District. State harm reduction guidance adds another layer to the effort, with naloxone, wound care kits and drug-checking strips often available free at local health departments for people not otherwise reaching the health care system.

For Owsley families, the measure of success will be plain: more rides, more contacts, more people staying in treatment and fewer gaps between overdose risk and recovery support. The money is on the table now; the accountability will come from whether local and state officials can show exactly what it changed.