Marblehead has been awarded $330,000 in opioid settlement money and is determining the best ways to spend the money.
“These funds are from several opioid settlements made between representatives of states and municipalities and defendants, companies that played a role in dispensing opioids that were responsible for the addiction epidemic,” said Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer.
Kezer, Public Health Director Andrew Petty, Fire Chief Jason Gilliland and Police Chief Dennis King have been meeting as a working group to decide how to allocate the funds. So far, they’ve spent about $7,000 to place naloxone boxes containing anti-overdose drugs in all municipal buildings.
King said some of the money will go toward a substance use awareness day being planned in town and to updating AED machines in police cruisers and municipal buildings.
“There’s a desire to spend the funds effectively and not just to spend them,” King said.
There is one other important use for the settlement money.
“We want to make sure that if there’s somebody in town that has a need (for rehab or treatment), we can help them get the best treatment possible. So, we want to make sure that they’re getting into a 90-day program,” Petty said at a recent Board of Health meeting. “These are really high costs, so the idea was to keep a large sum of money so when the needs arrive, you take that money and you spend it on these individuals who have the need.”
Kezer said more money may be coming.
“There are new settlements being announced,” he said. “Each settlement has its own requirements and timeline to expend the funds over a number of years.”
