Dear Producer: First of all, thanks for your continued original and comprehensive reporting. It is refreshing where many local papers have become glorified high school yearbooks. Nothing against high school yearbooks, but they do not replace a good local paper! Everyone should subscribe!

I was struck by two stories in the April 2nd edition. First, the news that recovery service providers in more than 21 towns are potentially going to be closed due to the Trump administration changing rules for reimbursement resulting in funding cuts. These recovery centers, funded through the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Use Services, provide critical frontline out-patient services to the 600,000 Oklahomans suffering from substance use disorders.

Curiously, in the same issue, it was reported that an agency created by our erudite legislature, called the “Oklahoma Opioid Abatement Board” has been having trouble figuring out who to give their money to, failing to dispense $20 million last year, and now having trouble deciding how to dispense $29 million this year.

According to their enabling legislation, they are tasked with dispensing funds won from opioid manufacturers. They require grant applications that address one of their “approved uses,” namely “treatment and recovery programs, opioid abuse education, naloxone training and distribution, and mental health care.” And who better to decide who is expert in recovery programs and mental health care than the Attorney General?

It is confusing to me how neither the Attorney General of Oklahoma nor his staff ever consider the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Use Services, which has been serving Oklahoma since 1953?

It seems to me that the Attorney General, instead of taking on this responsibility, which is not in his skill set, should have just passed the distribution of these funds to the ODMHSAS in the first place! Of course, audit yearly, but it’s pitiful his office is in a dilemma about how to disperse their funds, while recovery centers which have been operating for decades are having to close their doors!

There’s a reason Oklahoma ranks the 4th highest state in overdose deaths, and 5th highest in severe mental health issues. Is it “fog of war” among those tasked with fixing the problem? Too many cooks spoil the soup!