Global Courant 2023-05-11 21:45:38
The state panel that will decide how Ohio will distribute more than half of the money it will receive from a nationwide settlement related to the opioid addiction crisis must make its data public, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
In their unanimous ruling, the judges rejected the OneOhio Recovery Foundation’s claim that it was a private, non-profit organization and therefore not subject to the state’s public records law. The judges found the foundation “misinterpreting its function”, noting that it is not responsible for providing treatment, education or prevention services, but rather for giving settlement money to those who provide such services.
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Harm Reduction Ohio, a drug policy reform group that has sought documents related to the panel’s board meetings and “numerous” committee meetings on “hiring, finances, bylaws and other matters.” The reform group also said the president would not be allowed to participate in the panel’s first meeting in May 2022, even though officials had said it would operate as if it were subject to Ohio’s public meetings law.
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The Ohio Supreme Court is pictured on May 18, 2014 in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a state opioid panel is required to make its records public. (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
The 29-member panel includes state representatives, local government leaders, addiction treatment experts and others from across the state. It will decide how to distribute more than $440 million of an $808 million settlement reached last year with the country’s three largest pharmaceutical distributors and drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson.
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OneOhio, which will also seek long-term solutions to the opioid epidemic, has maintained that it is trying to follow what the settlement mandated — that it is a private, non-profit organization — and that openly saying it is a public entity would jeopardize that status. to take.