Chelsea is slated to get approximately $2 million from a total of seven opioid settlements through Fiscal year 2038. At last week’s city council meeting, City Manager Fidel Maltez provided an update on those funds and how the city plans to use them. The office of the Massachusetts Attorney General and many other attorneys general from across the country settled lawsuits against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers for their roles in contributing to the devastation caused by the opioid crisis, Maltez stated.
The settlements provide that the defendants pay states and municipalities money annually through FY38 to supplement and strengthen resources for opioid prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery. To help plan for how to most effectively spend the funds the city is expected to receive, Maltez said the city held two planning sessions in the spring with invited stakeholders. The city also issued an open application for opioid community abatement funds.
“The overall guiding principle is to use the funds to save lives,” stated Maltez. “In Chelsea, even acknowledging incomplete reporting, there were eight deaths and 133 overdoses in a 16-month period.” Over the next three fiscal years, Maltez said the city anticipates receiving and making available $780,000 in the settlement funds. Maltez noted that Chelsea is one of the few communities in the state that has operated a substance use disorder system for several years to address substance use with several ongoing projects. “Therefore, as a general matter, the Opioid program in Chelsea will build upon and expand existing prevention and intervention projects,” Maltez.
After reviewing the applications for the opioid abatement funds, Maltez said the city made awards to three projects. Roca will use the funds to provide lifesaving cognitive behavioral theory skills, as well as education and workforce readiness programming, employment, and effective referral and connection to harm reduction services and clinical care to young people with opioid and substance use disorders. The CAPIC Opioid Project will connect individuals with substance use disorders to appropriate and equitable intervention in a coordinated way and to increase their quality of life and to lead a self-sustaining life. The Opioid Overdose Reporting Project will be a non-fatal drug overdose tracking and reporting system.