Among 90 Arizona cities and towns receiving money from settling lawsuits with big pharmaceutical companies over the nation’s opioid crisis, Chandler is being hailed as the model for how to spend those funds.
Now others are scurrying to replicate its ideas.
“Arizona Department of Health Services thinks that we are the golden child,” said Tom Dwiggins, Chief of the Chandler Fire Department. “Nobody else is doing this. … We’ve gotten so many calls from other cities that want to replicate this, because it’s specific to overdoses.”…