A person signs in, center, as Jesse Johnson of the Family Resource Center, right, waits for client Tyler Baker to complete a random drug test at the Hancock County Adult Probation office in Findlay, Ohio, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. Experts say establishing peer support programs to help people in recovery is one way communities should consider using money from settling lawsuits with the drug industry over the toll of opioids. Photo by Carolyn Kaster/AP.
A person signs in, center, as Jesse Johnson of the Family Resource Center, right, waits for client Tyler Baker to complete a random drug test at the Hancock County Adult Probation office in Findlay, Ohio, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. Experts say establishing peer support programs to help people in recovery is one way communities should consider using money from settling lawsuits with the drug industry over the toll of opioids. Photo by Carolyn Kaster/AP.

Maryland’s Opioid Restitution Fund Advisory Council is considering new ways to advise the state to spend hundreds of millions of dollars won by the state to reduce the use of drug overdoses.

One possibility is increasing incentives for peer specialists, said Emily Keller, Maryland’s special secretary of overdose response, during a Monday meeting of the council.

“We hear very often the need to support peers, peer salaries, ways to attract peers and keep them here in Maryland, because we know we have an incredible peer system, and they do great work,” Keller said.

Read more at WYPR.