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AKRON, Ohio (AP) — The tentative settlement involving the opioid crisis and the maker of OxyContin could mean that thousands of local governments will one day be paid back for some of the costs of responding to the epidemic.

As we covered in July, the country has its eyes on an Ohio opioid MDL handling more than 2,000 lawsuits brought by more than 1,200 cities, counties, and tribes against drug manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies.

Purdue Pharma, the maker of the opioid drug OxyContin, has reached a tentative deal worth billions of dollars that would resolve thousands of lawsuits brought by municipal and state governments who sued the company for allegedly helping to fuel the opioid crisis.

Deal would let drugmaker avoid landmark trial next month on allegations it helped fuel the opioid crisis

Many advocates on the front lines of the opioid crisis — from firefighters who revive overdose victims, to counselors at community treatment and recovery programs, to grandparents caring for the children of addicts — already are frustrated with two recent developments that could affect settlement payments in Ohio.

A three-year, $13.2 million federal grant will help the Cuyahoga County Board of Health collect better data on opioid overdoses, health officials announced this week.

Fighting the opioid epidemic in Ohio, which has the second-highest rate of opioid overdose deaths in the United States, is considered by many health practitioners at The Ohio State University not just a professional responsibility, but also a moral imperative.

Upcoming trials seen as test cases for forcing drugmakers to pay for societal damage inflicted by the opioid epidemic should be delayed until Ohio's own lawsuits against the drugmakers can be heard, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost argued in a lawsuit.