Ohio has been one of the states hit hardest since the opioid epidemic began with doctors over-prescribing pain medications in the 90s.
The impact has been long-lasting and devastating, with more than 3,600 people dying from an opioid overdose just last year.
In recent years, many cities, counties and states across the country, and here in Ohio, sued drug companies for their role in making and distributing the drugs. Ohio is set to receive about $2 billion in settlement money from these companies over the course of the next two decades to compensate for harm caused by opioids.
Some of these communities have already started receiving some of this money. But the question is: where is the money going, and what is going to be done with it to help the communities most impacted by this crisis?
The Ohio Newsroom and public media stations across the state have recently launched a major, year-long reporting project that will help track some of the ways this settlement money is being used.
On Tuesday's "Sound of Ideas," we're going to talk about the project and the challenges involved, with two of the reporters and an activist in the field of drug recovery.
Later in this hour, we'll talk about Ideastream's "Sound of Us" community engagement series, which allows Northeast Ohioans the chance to tell the stories they want to tell in their own voices.
For this next installment of the series, which kicks off Tuesday and runs through August, Ideastream partnered with the Second Harvest Food Bank in Lorain. They introduced us to storytellers who are involved with the food bank in some way and could tell personal stories of dealing with hunger or the need for healthier food in Lorain County.
The series features stories like a Cleveland Clinic doctor who started a hospital food pantry in Avon, to a person formerly addicted to opioids who started an urban farm that helps supply the food bank.
Guests:
-Taylor Wizner, Health Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Erin Gottsacker, Reporter/Producer, The Ohio Newsroom
-Dennis Cauchon, Founder and President, Harm Reduction Ohio
-Zaria Johnson, Environmental Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Dave Sokoll, Executive Director, Oberlin Food Hub
-Kristy Buskirk, Co-owner, Clay Hill Farm
