Massachusetts Communities Receive Opioid Lawsuit Settlement Funds
Part Five
By Luke Schmaltz, VOICES Newsletter Editor
This ongoing series examines how communities are accessing settlement money from opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.
These companies include Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Teva, Purdue, Allergan, and Johnson & Johnson. Over the next decade-and-a-half, funds in excess of $1 billion will be distributed to 351 subdivisions statewide based on per-capita rates of opioid-related deaths.
Concerned citizens, outreach professionals, and community leaders must communicate with local governments in order to determine how the money will be utilized.
Opening the Conversation
Doris Kraemer is the Cape Cod Family Liaison for Learn to Cope, a peer-led support network for people whose loved ones are struggling with substance use. Kraemer applies her experience as a registered nurse and harm reduction trainer to connect service providers with families, facilitate support groups, and advocate for the needs of the community. She explains how the city of Falmouth is determining how to accurately distribute the opioid lawsuit settlement funds.
“Here, we have the Falmouth Commission on Substance Use,” Kraemer begins, “Not all municipalities have something like this. That is a big challenge – for those places that do not have a formal organization – when it comes to advising the municipality on where money should be sent.”
“In summer of 2023, we embarked on a process where we held open meetings for community stakeholders such as people with lived experience, service providers, and concerned residents. My role was to host and participate in those meetings, which included a hired facilitator. We had six different community meetings, and we asked each of the groups their opinions on what is being done well, what needs improvement, and what are the barriers to getting there. Among the groups represented were people in recovery, those who are currently using, concerned parents, and people who have lost a loved one as well as marginalized groups such as the Wampanoag and the Cape Verdean.”
Connecting Communities
“Everyone who showed up to these meetings wanted to help change the situation in our community. Many who attended were well informed or already working in this field, so there was a big push for harm reduction. The meetings were very positive and we used the World Cafe Method. The first meeting had 60 people in attendance. The following meetings were smaller, as they were targeted toward the specific stakeholder groups across the community. They sat at tables in small groups so they could have intimate discussions about their concerns.”
“From a variety of perspectives, these general sessions helped build a picture of what our community needs. In the fall, we met again to talk about the input from those meetings. From there, we created a set of recommendations to the town government. We have shared this model with other communities on the Cape, and they are also embarking on it. Our hope is that they can replicate this approach because it is very effective.”
Regional Dynamics
Kraemer sees the success of these meetings as a small-but-crucial first step towards cooperation in a community defined by division and disconnection. “The Cape is different from other places,” she explains. “There is the problem of silos and people not working together. This is not new – even the police, fire departments, and court systems do not work well together. Everyone is in their own silo, even providers, who tend to compete even though this is not a competition.”
“I am struggling with getting Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Provincetown involved in a campaign to reduce stigma. They are all considered rural from a federal standpoint and have been hard hit due to geographic location. People want to stick to themselves due to the stigma of this disease and this place, especially during the winter, can be very isolating. Towns of a similar makeup should be pooling money, intelligence, experience, and working together.”
“Falmouth is getting a large amount of money. This is because we have a very high incidence of overdose deaths. We have the only treatment facility on the Cape, which is Gosnold Behavioral Health. People come here for treatment, and they get discharged. Our little community also has an enormous number of sober homes, where they go after treatment. But, if they have a relapse, and they die here, we get tagged with that overdose. From a statistical standpoint the numbers are very high, so we want to be thoughtful about the money and make sure it doesn’t get spent haphazardly.”
“The recommendations are being formulated for the town to demonstrate where the funding needs to go. The next step will be to determine how service providers and individuals can apply for those funds. As I attended these meetings, it became very clear what the recommendations will turn out to be. One of the key areas Falmouth doesn’t have is grief support for people who have lost somebody to an overdose.”
Emerging Needs
Kraemer recalls running into a former attendee of a Learn to Cope support meeting, whose struggling son was able to find recovery. Regardless, he relapsed, overdosed, and died. The woman was without support for two years. “I knew we needed this in Falmouth,” Kraemer says, “So I asked her if she wanted to start a meeting here, and that’s how the Falmouth group started. Unfortunately, it is my largest-growing group. We started in November with six members, and now we have 14. We partner with The Sun Will Rise Foundation, who provides us with a facilitator for one of the two monthly meetings and for the other meeting we focus on self-care.”
Get Involved
Residents can learn how to access the settlement funds allocated to their community by attending Office Hours run by Care Massachusetts: The Opioid Abatement Partnership. Meetings are held bi-weekly via Zoom, and anyone can attend and access slides and video recordings from previous meetings. “The last one I attended,” Kraemer continues, “Was the best explanation of how municipalities can access the funds. You don’t have to go to town meetings every year once you have established the mechanism for utilizing the funds, because that is what is holding people back. They talk about the mechanics of how to access the money.”
“We want to be able to help the affected families with grief support and resources because that is where the need lies. Whether they have lost somebody, or they are still using. This is a family disease – everybody is affected – grandparents raising grandchildren, children in family services, foster parents, everyone.”
If you need assistance related to opioid lawsuit settlement funds allocated to your community, you can request help from the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services. For further information and support for bereaved people who want to have their voices heard, please see the questionnaire and information sheet from The Sun Will Rise.