Gordon Graham
Category: Public Safety
Gordon Graham here with Today’s Tip from Lexipol. Today’s Tip is for all my friends in public safety leadership — police and fire chiefs, sheriffs, administrators — anyone responsible for budgets, people, and risk.
Let me ask you a question: How many overdose calls did your people run last year? How many times were they exposed to fentanyl and other opioids? How many critical incidents did they carry home with them in the form of stress, trauma, and injury?
“The money is there. It’s ongoing. And it may already be within reach.”
Now here’s the follow-up question: Are you aware there may be funding set aside to help you address exactly those issues?
Across the country, states and local governments are receiving opioid settlement funds. This is not a grant you missed and it’s not a one-time payout. These are long-term settlement dollars, paid out over many years, specifically intended to address harms caused by the opioid epidemic — including the toll it takes on first responders.
Here’s the problem. Many public safety leaders don’t know this money exists. Others assume it’s already gone. And some believe it can only be used for treatment programs or community organizations.
That’s often not the case.
In the settlement language, first responders are recognized as secondary victims of the opioid crisis. That matters. Because it opens the door to funding for responder safety, training, wellness, resiliency, peer support, and policies tied to overdose response and high-risk substance exposure.
In other words, the very things your people deal with every day.
In many jurisdictions, counties and cities already have opioid settlement funds sitting in accounts. They don’t get spent because no one asks the right questions.
So here’s today’s practical takeaway. Ask three simple questions:
- Do we have opioid settlement funds allocated to our city or county?
- How much is available?
- And what’s the process to request them?
If your agency is running overdose calls, managing risk associated with opioid misuse, or struggling with the cumulative stress that comes with this work, this funding was meant for you.
The money is there. It’s ongoing. And it may already be within reach. And that’s Today’s Tip from Lexipol. Gordon Graham signing off.
