OGDEN — Money from a national opioid addiction lawsuit settlement will be used to expand help for Weber County Jail inmates withdrawing from substance use disorder.

Last week, Weber Human Services received a $40,000 check from the Weber County Commission, which is the gatekeeper for settlement funds received by the county. WHS, in turn, will work with the Weber County Sheriff’s Office to carry out the expanded services to help inmates survive withdrawals.

The jail first cares for inmates as they withdraw from opioid addiction and then helps to get them clean with various protocols. This hopefully prepares them for drug-free life after release.

WHU Executive Director Kevin Eastman said the funds will allow his agency and the jail to expand their Medical Assisted Treatment program.

“This will aid inmates who are addicted to opiates and other substances and give them a head start in treatment while they serve their sentence,” he said.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Phillip Reese said the opioid epidemic is a huge struggle within the walls of the correctional facility.

“You are looking at two separate scenarios,” he said. “One, the individuals that are newly arrested and will be withdrawing because of the arrest. The correctional facility has in place withdrawal protocols. These protocols will be strengthened with the application of a portion of the opioid settlement funds and the matching funds the county provided.”

The second scenario, Reese said, deals with illegal substances being smuggled into the correctional facility.

“While the team at our correctional facility does everything in their power to prevent contraband from entering their facility, folks are very clever with their methods,” Reese said. “Unfortunately, addiction is extremely powerful, which causes a high drive for these sorts of illegal activities to occur.”

Reese said, in his opinion, the biggest problem is the unknown mixtures of illegal substances. The community is still seeing a heavy combination of methamphetamine mixed with heroin or prescription narcotics. Fentanyl use is also on the rise.

“We observe the challenges occurring on the East Coast with fentanyl and understand the high probability of those challenges landing on our local doorstep,” he said.

One thought is that addiction, especially the opiate problem, is being tackled on several fronts, Reese said. “It requires organizations — private and government — to collaborate and coordinate, to get our arms around helping people who suffer from it. We are fighting it through treatment but also through prevention, and the community is also needed to help, as prevention work is done by all three partnerships.”

Reese also said residents are encouraged to get involved with their local area. Communities That Care, for instance, is established in every high school boundary in Weber County. Residents can get involved and serve in any capacity to fit the busiest of schedules and can go to www.weberhs.org to find out how to help.

“Weber County is a leader in seeking solutions to these complicated and heartbreaking struggles,” Reese said. “Various entities within Weber County form a positive and solution-oriented coalition of partnerships who seek to serve our community and provide effective pathways to returning to healthy lifestyles. The staff at the correctional facility are dedicated to bringing healthy outcomes to those in their custody.”

Eastman said in 2017, WHS partnered with Bonneville Communities That Care and other organizations, including Intermountain Health and McKay-Dee Hospital in an effort to reduce opioid prescriptions. According to Intermountain Health, prescriptions written in 2022 were down 26% from 2017.

“The efforts you see have been significant, but it still has not led to decreased deaths,” Eastman said. “We have to hope that it has decreased some people getting addicted to opiates because those prescribing have improved monitoring practices on quantity and who is receiving them at all.”

State and local governments across the country are benefitting from settlements with several major pharmaceutical companies who were sued for allegedly contributing to the explosion in opioid use that resulted in thousands of overdose abuse deaths.

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