Settlement Won’t Restore Ohio City Upended by Opioids

September 12, 2019

Julie Carr Smyth, Journal of Emergency Medical Services

In this Sept. 11, 2019, photo, Akron Fire Chief Clarence Tucker comes down the stairs at Fire Station No. 4, in Akron, Ohio. “You can get a call someone has overdosed and you get there, you can bring them back with Narcan. Then you’ll go to the same address in the afternoon,” Tucker said. “Or you go to that address in the morning and the two parents have overdosed and there’s a child there. It’s just horrible. It really is.” (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

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.

But for public officials in Akron, no amount of money will restore the families and institutions that were upended by prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl.