Opioid Abatement Funding Opioid Abatement Funding

How SAFE Is Funded

SAFE is funded through pooled opioid abatement funds - a joint effort by our member communities to make the most of these critical resources. By combining funding at the regional level, we’re able to support broader, more impactful prevention strategies that reach across town lines.

This shared approach allows us to:

• Expand access to substance use education and prevention services
• Support harm reduction programs, including Narcan distribution and training
• Offer coordinated outreach and awareness campaigns
• Fund regional staff to carry out this work with consistency and focus

Pooling resources helps ensure that all of our towns - regardless of size or budget - have access to the tools needed to prevent substance misuse, support residents, and build healthier communities.

About the Opioid Abatement Funds

In 2021 attorneys general across the United States reached an agreement with opioid companies and Johnson & Johnson to settle legal claims over their actions which fueled the opioid epidemic. These payments amount to more than $26 billion that will be distributed across states involved in the settlement agreements. State’s shares of the funds are determined by involvement in the suit, and based on the impact of the opioid epidemic in that state, including opioid related deaths, number of individuals with Substance Use Disorder (SUD), and the number of opioids delivered to that state. The state of Massachusetts is receiving >$900 million as a result of this settlement, all of which is intended to be put towards substance use prevention and treatment efforts.

State Distribution

The state is receiving 60% of all funds. 100% of these funds will be placed into the statewide Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund to be used for supporting harm reduction, treatment, and recovery programs. The RIZE Mosaic grant, which aims to strengthen municipal and non-profit capacity to address the opioid epidemic, is supported by these funds.

Local Distribution

Local municipalities are receiving the other 40% of the funds, equating to about $360 million. Payments are being given directly to municipalities by the companies involved in the lawsuit. These payments began in 2022 and will be disbursed over an 18 year period. The municipal funds must also be put towards opioid prevention or treatment, though a variety of methods are approved for the funds. Municipalities are encouraged to do this work on a regional level through shared services infrastructure. 

Spending of Opioid Settlement Funds

The State Subdivision Agreement’s shared commitment between the Commonwealth and municipalities states that Opioid Abatement Funds must be used to supplement and strengthen, rather than supplant, resources for prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery. The funds must be implemented in a manner that: Reflects the input of community members, especially those with personal experience with the overdose epidemic, experts in treatment and prevention, and staff and organizations carrying out abatement work; Addresses disparities in existing services and outcomes and improves equity and the health of communities disadvantaged by race, wealth, and stigma, including through efforts to increase diversity among service providers; Addresses mental health conditions, substance use disorders, and other behavioral health needs that occur with opioid use disorder; Leverages programs and services already reimbursed by state agencies and programs, including direct care reimbursed by MassHealth and BSAS; Encourages innovation, fills gaps, and fixes the shortcomings of existing approaches, and includes evidence-based, evidence-informed, and promising programs, and takes advantage of the flexibility that is allowed for these funds.

Further, the State Subdivision Agreement presents the following seven general strategies that municipalities may implement with abatement funds:

• Enhance opioid use disorder treatment
• Support people in treatment and recovery
• Facilitate connections to care
• Promote harm reduction
• Address the needs of criminal-justice-involved persons
• Support pregnant or parenting individuals and their families, including babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome
• Prevent misuse of opioids and implement prevention education