News Article

Party politics muck up nine years of Statehouse solutions for the opioid crisis

Sunday, July 2, 2017

by Akron Beacon Journal

In late November as the Ohio Senate wrapped up its legislative agenda for 2016, Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni went to President Larry Obhof to ask for a Christmas miracle: a bipartisan compromise to fund opioid addiction treatment.

The Youngstown-area Democrat and former boxer led with a $10 million request. The Ashtabula Republican countered with $2 million.

“Two million dollars across 88 counties won’t make a real difference,” Schiavoni told the Beacon Journal, still fuming months after the legislative twist. “But I said ‘great.’ We put it in [House Bill 325]. The House ripped it out. And that’s a real problem.

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/party-politics-muck-up-nine-years-of-statehouse-solutions-for-the-opioid-crisis-1.778187