The Park County Commissioners have begun sending out some of its Opioid Settlement funds into the community with the hope of stemming the tide of the crisis.

At Tuesday's meeting, commissioners unanimously agreed to send out nearly $70,000 for the first three programs identified. That includes $1,000 to Park County Circuit Court for drug testing materials for use with programs to monitor drug use, $1,200 for a resource guide by Healthy Park County to assist people looking for local assistance with addiction, counseling and similar issues, and $65,482 for seven additional drug court positions that drug court has said are needed.

Last September the commissioners held a work session with a variety of people representing organizations interested in helping with the issue of opioid abuse. At that meeting it was agreed to allow a group to put together a proposal on how to use the roughly $500,000 in funds now in hand and the more than $70,000 the county will get each year for the next several years.

The funds are from the massive settlement with Purdue Pharmaceuticals regarding the company’s production and marketing of opioids, which the federal government alleged in its suit led to many cases of addiction across the country.

At Tuesday’s meeting two members of the group, Cody mayor Matt Hall and Jackie Fales, Drug Court interim director, were present but weren’t needed to fight for the funding amounts, which the commissioners quickly granted.

“They dived in with both feet, got together with a lot of people,” Chair Dossie Overfield said of the group.

She said they’ll be back at a future meeting with more funding plans.