Massachusetts Communities Receive Opioid Lawsuit Settlement Funds
Part Three
By Luke Schmaltz, VOICES Newsletter Editor
Across Massachusetts, municipalities are currently receiving settlement funds from a series of lawsuits against manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of prescription opioids. These companies, including Purdue, Allergan, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and more, will be paying the state in excess of $1 billion over the next decade-and-a-half.
A top concern surrounding these payouts is how the money will be allocated for spending within each municipality. The settlement agreements assert that local governments are to determine how to spend the monies through dialogue with outreach organizations, direct care facilities, and residents impacted by the opioid epidemic.
Thus far, in areas such as Boston, Braintree, and Cape Cod, this process is unfolding successfully as local outreach leaders confer with their fellow residents and elected officials.
This series is an ongoing investigation into how communication between residents and government is affecting the allocation of the settlement funds in the various regions of Massachusetts.
Lived Experience
Kathryn Peirce is the founder and facilitator of The Journey: Living with Substance Loss, based in Natick. It offers support as well as a safe place to talk with others who have been impacted by the loss of a loved one to substance use-related issues.
Peirce founded The Journey three years after her son’s death. He died of an overdose in 2013, then a few months later, two more 24-year-olds died in the same way. She praises how the community of Natick responded to those issues, and how the opioid settlements are no exception.
“There were three young people who died in this short period of time,” Peirce explains. “It was brought to the attention of the town, and within 12 months we had a vigil set up, we had support people in place, and the board of health started applying for grants. Between being funded through the board of health and having established these grants, the town government has really been able to accommodate the community with funds and outreach for families in need of assistance.”
Currently, Peirce facilitates in-person and online grief groups for The Journey. “We’ve done retreats and other events and my financial support has come from SOAR and the town of Natick. They have been very proactive. I have never had them say, ‘No, we can’t do that.’”
“Once someone becomes addicted, being able to have a sober environment is important, especially for kids,” Peirce says. “You send them away to a recovery home and they become very strong. But then they come back to the same environment they left, and all the triggers are there. If you can do something within the high school that helps these kids survive within the existing environment it would be much healthier and they might have a better chance.”
Negotiating in Natick
“The biggest problem” Peirce begins, “Was that communities started receiving this money in late 2022, and the legislature neglected to put a mechanism in the legislation to adequately account for the money. So, the groups caught on to this early and said, ‘Wait a minute, you have to fix this.’ They had some attorneys reviewing it and it was determined that the legislature neglected to go to the Department of Revenue, who is the overseer of all the communities, on how to allocate and spend finances.”
“I don’t think they really know what to do now that this money is coming in. The catcher is there, but they don’t know how to deliver the pitch. They are ready to receive it in Natick, but it wasn’t set up right.”
“What they were trying to do was get it so that the money comes into a town and goes directly to a specific fund that will be allocated only for those things that are noted in the document by the opioid committee. But, until they modified the legislation, it was just coming into the communities and going into what they call the general fund. This is just a big puddle of money that then must be allocated in the following spring or fall by the legislators of the community. A lot of these people don’t even have a clue that they are getting this windfall of money.”
“My understanding,” Peirce continues,” is the committee that was formed pieced together a document which told people what the money can and cannot be spent on. Then, they allocated what was going to go to which community and which group. Some communities are going to join up with other smaller communities to optimize the amount of money they are receiving.”
“So, it has been a real concern, because when Robyn Houston-Bean started putting together the committee, it was so that the grieving members of various communities could get together and find out what their communities are doing. If the legislation isn’t fixed, then those grieving people are going to have to go to their communities and say, ‘We want that money specifically set up as the guidelines indicate to be spent accordingly.’ If communities are not on top of that, then it’s a whole other process.”
“The legislation was amended in the final budget of this year, which was just recently passed in late July. From community to community, it is being dealt with very differently. In Natick, we were way out ahead of this before many communities.”
A Proactive Mindset
“Natick is home to a group called Natick 180.” Peirce says. “It involves the board of health, the fire department, the police, and all the agencies that deal with the public hands-on. SOAR was originally a group of moms that sat with parents whose kids were going through this and trying to cope with it. They have evolved into providers of support for recovery and overdose situations. SOAR supports recovery homes through a drive they hold every year for sundries, they help kids in recovery to get apartments, and they offer scholarships for housing. If there is a need, there is help. We are very fortunate. Natick is at the forefront of this and other communities around us have benefited.
“The woman in charge of Natick 180 is named Katie Sugarman and she is a shining star,” Peirce explains, “She is out there, she is supporting, she knows what is going on, and how to deal with it. She is incredibly compassionate, and the town is so fortunate to have her.”
Natick 180 is a community-wide coalition, while serving as director for this organization, Sugarman is also the Prevention and Outreach Program Manager for the Town of Natick Health Department. Her unique role allows her to serve as a liaison between the local government and the community. “We are addressing substance use across a 180-degree spectrum, including prevention, access to treatment services, and recovery,” she explains. “Part of our belief system is that anyone can make a change, and do a 180.”
Connecting the Community
Concerning the opioid lawsuit settlement funds, Sugarman’s role has her immersed in the conversation between government and community about where and how to spend the money. “There are two different ways in which we are convening the conversation. One is a long-standing, ongoing conversation through the Natick 180 infrastructure” she says. “When we set up Natick 180, we assigned a leadership team consisting of municipal departments, community organizations, everyday private citizens who care about this topic, and even a youth group at the high school. The team’s steering committee includes our chief of police, our fire chief, our public health director, our school uperintendent, and three elected officials from our town.”
“The other half of the steering committee is made up of community members who are leaders of grassroots groups such as SOAR and Spark Kindness as well as members of our interfaith clergy association and officials from the two local hospitals. We also have some at-large positions we are currently trying to fill. We are making sure we are maintaining a balance between community voice and the folks who work within our municipal infrastructure. The community has identified Natick 180 as the entity that will help make decisions and determinations as to how the money gets spent. Most of the players who have a vested interest in this topic and are actively engaged in it are somehow connected to Natick 180.”
“In June of this year, we hosted a couple of listening forums that were open to the public, where anyone could come and share their concerns and personal experiences, and talk about what they see as gaps, needs, and wants across the community. There will be another town hall-style event in October. This will be an opportunity to share our current data on local substance use and overdose rates with the public. This will give residents another chance to share their thoughts. All of that feedback will be constantly informing how we allot our opioid settlement funds.”
Sugarman recently prepared a presentation for the public stating what funds were allocated for Natick and where, through community engagement and feedback, she felt they would be of greatest benefit to the community.
In order to fully benefit from opioid lawsuit settlement funds, each Massachusetts municipality must submit a State Subdivision Agreement to the Attorney General. If you live in an area where your local government may not have already done this, you can refer them to this form, which must be submitted via this email address: [email protected].