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Despite a slightly encouraging downward trend in opioid deaths, far too many of our fellow Mainers are still being lost to overdoses. Far too many families are being impacted by the relentless and heartbreaking impacts of addiction.
And now, too much available funding has yet to be deployed against this continued crisis.
The Maine Recovery Council, a group of 15 members charged with distributing some of the more than $200 million the state is receiving as part of opioid settlements with various drug companies, has yet to spend any of the $17 million it has received thus far as reported by the Maine Monitor.
To be clear, the recovery council is not responsible for spending all of Maine’s opioid settlement money, expected to be $235 million over 18 years. Half of the money will go through the council; 30 percent goes to eligible counties, cities and towns; and 20 percent is being distributed through the Maine Attorney General’s office. And, this initial $17 million is just a piece of the much larger $117 million-plus that the council will be shepherding for nearly two decades. So even with pressing needs right now, the council needs to view its investments with a long-term lens.
The reasons for the slow start, seemingly administrative as this new council establishes rules and procedures and looks for public input, make some sense. But eight months into this work, it is hard not to see this as an example of a state body moving at the speed of bureaucracy rather than the speed of an ongoing crisis.
“We want to make sure when that money is handed out, it’s not somebody who has a terrific idea but never been tested,” the council’s chair, Pat Kimball, told Maine Public on Monday. “We want to be able to say the money goes to programs that are evidence based, that are proven to make a difference in the lives of people who have substance use disorder, or an opiate use disorder.”
This is a good standard. However, more urgency is needed as well.
Let’s again be very clear: members of the recovery council need no reminder of the dire circumstances many Maine people finds themselves in everyday simply trying to survive in a world of fentanyl, xylazine, and persistent challenges that accompany trying to access prevention, treatment and recovery services (even as strides have been made in recent years). In their various professional capacities — whether they’re a doctor, a recovery advocate, the state’s opioid response director or a law enforcement official — members of council are frequently faced with these harsh realities.
As individuals, they surely don’t need us to tell them about the ongoing, pressing needs of the opioid epidemic. But as a newly created group, they must work quickly to get this funding out into communities without delay.
With so much need, we understand that decisions about where to send the money can be difficult. And we appreciate the importance of incorporating public input and creating a fair, transparent and durable application process for the next two decades as opioid settlement payments continue. With many council members involved in organizations and efforts doing prevention, treatment and recovery work, we can certainly imagine potential conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts in the disbursement of this money. So having clear guardrails in place makes sense.
Planning is good. Public input is good. But we’ll tell recovery council members something we’ve been telling local and county officials about the distribution of federal COVID-19 relief funds: avoid analysis paralysis. Include the public in your decisions, yes. But don’t let process questions drag on and allow money to sit on the sidelines unused.
At a certain point, these council members need to recognize that they were appointed for a reason, and to trust their own expertise and experience. These settlement funds have the potential to significantly bolster prevention, treatment and recovery efforts across the state. But the money needs to actually get out into Maine communities for that to start happening.