Norwich ― The city will decide in the coming months how best to spend $18,000 per year for the next 18 years in a nationwide opioid addiction settlement with major pharmaceutical companies to combat drug addiction and try to prevent overdose deaths.

The city’s share of the multi-state $26 billion settlement with pharmaceutical distributors Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen and manufacturer Johnson & Johnson will be placed in a special fund. The money will be kept separate from the city’s general fund, an ordinance passed unanimously by the City Council Dec. 19 stated.

City Manager John Salomone will present recommendations for how to spend the first $18,000 at the April 3 council meeting, along with his annual budget proposal.

If Norwich receives money from other pending settlement discussions with other pharmaceutical companies, the funds will be placed in the same dedicated account, the ordinance stated.

Speakers at a council public hearing Dec. 19 urged the council to work with local agencies that specialize in opioid addiction response, education and prevention. Mostly, they said, Norwich should support and encourage widespread distribution of the opioid-reversing treatment Narcan, the brand name for the naloxone nasal spray.

Former Alderwoman Joanne Philbrick gave an emotional account of how she became addicted to oxycodone after she suffered a broken femur in 2018. Philbrick called the city’s $18,000 share “a slap in the face,” given the extent of the opioid addiction crisis in the region. Philbrick urged the council to add more money to the pool and to get Narcan into as many hands as possible.

“You should make it mandatory that every police officer, every school, every civic organization within the confines of this city have Narcan readily available,” Philbrick said, “and people are trained to use it. I don’t want anyone else to fall through the cracks. It can happen to the best of us. It can happen to the worst of us.”

Jennifer Chadukiewicz, chief strategy officer at the Southeastern Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence, provided the council with copies of the latest monthly state Department of Public Health report on accidental and unintentional drug overdoses.

The report showed New London County consistently topped the state’s eight counties in “unintentional and undetermined” overdose death rates in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and that rates continue to climb.

In 2019, New London County had 42.1 deaths per 100,000 population. That increased to 47.4 deaths per 100,000 in 2020 and jumped to 59.2 in 2021. New Haven County had the second highest rate in 2021, with 53.5 overdose deaths per 100,000 population.

Statewide statistics for 2022 through the first week of November totaled 1,139 confirmed fatal overdoses, with 85%, a total of 968, involving fentanyl. County breakdowns for 2022 were not included in the report.

Chadukiewicz said Norwich is in the heart of the 41-town Southeastern Regional Action Council, the agency designated by the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to provide overdose prevention, education and response services, including Narcan use training and distribution. Chadukiewicz urged Norwich to “maximize every dollar” of the opioid settlement by partnering with SERAC to spend the settlement money.

“We urge you to engage with them immediately to organize a plan for the education and distribution of Narcan and other evidence-based practices, which support overdose prevention,” Chadukiewicz said.

Norwich resident Shiela Hayes said Norwich has worked with SERAC in the past and should also look for agencies to address gaps in services for people with addiction. Hayes noted Philbrick’s own experience, when she could not find a treatment facility for a 75-year-old woman in the region and was told to go home and “figure it out.”

Hayes said Norwich has an opportunity to address the problem “that there are not programs for everyone in this community.”

c.bessette@theday.com