Over one Million dollars in settlements by some pharmacy chains will be coming to Trumbull County.

Plus attorneys who just won a landmark case against against CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens are seeking a billion dollars each for Trumbull and Lake Counties.

Unlike the tobacco settlement where millions of dollars were diverted to help Ohio during the great recession, people on the front lines believe all money should be earmarked for opioid related treatment, education programs, and people directly effected by relatives they lost to opioid addiction, or who are providing care for children who lost parents due to opioid addiction.

Heads of agencies on the front lines in the fight against addiction and families effected want to see settlement and lawsuit dollars spent to
buy Narcan for police, fire and EMT's, programs to educate children about dangers of drug use, along with drug interdiction.
"With pills especially they think it's safe and it's not safe to get started on to begin with," said April Caraway Executive Director of Trumbull County Mental Health Board.

Eric Ungaro, who has seen the effects of the opioid epidemic professionally as a teacher and coach, and personally with the loss of his brother, believes some of the money should go directly to families for mental health help to salvage lives.

"You have these kids, they're living with grandparents, living with aunts, with uncles, and they have mental health issues because they didn't have a father or their mom or things of that nature so those are the ones who actually need it," added Ungaro.

Executive Directors of the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board and Trumbull Children Services joined Lindsey McCoy on WFMJ Today.

"We really need more help with getting more people into long term treatment programs. Residential treatment is the thing that impacts the people's sobriety the longest, and it's more expensive," emphasized Caraway.

"Our kids in custody went up, our cost of care for those kids went up. We have some effective programs like Ohio Start with folks with lived experience working with our caseworkers and our families, so your need for that is going to expand," said Timothy Schaffner Executive Director of Trumbull Children Services Board.

Giant Eagle and Rite Aid settled lawsuits with Trumbull and Lake Counties.

Attorneys for Trumbull and Lake Counties are seeking a billion dollars each for Trumbull and Lake Counties from CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens.

CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens have stated they don't agree with the jury's verdict and intend to appeal the jury's verdict to an appellate court.