Opioid Settlement Funds Support New Treatment Center in Cambria County

A new medication-assisted treatment center has opened in Cambria County, funded largely through the county's share of national opioid litigation settlement funds, part of a broader statewide effort to direct settlement dollars toward expanded treatment capacity in hard-hit regions.

The center offers buprenorphine and methadone treatment alongside counseling services, designed specifically to reduce wait times that county officials say had previously stretched to several weeks at existing regional facilities, a delay treatment providers say frequently results in people abandoning the effort to seek help altogether.

"Every week someone waits is a week they're at serious risk," the center's clinical director said. "Settlement funding let us open fast rather than spend years fundraising."

County officials have faced scrutiny over how opioid settlement funds are allocated, with some community advocates arguing more money should go toward prevention and harm reduction programs rather than treatment facilities alone. County commissioners say the new center represents one piece of a broader spending plan that also includes funding for a needle exchange program and expanded naloxone distribution across the county.