Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long (D) and Attorney General Kathy Jennings (D) are holding a series of town halls seeking feedback on how the state should spend its settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Delaware will receive more than $100 million over the next 17 years from the settlement of a 2018 lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors that played a role in surging prescription opioid use over the past two decades.
A commission made up of state and county officials will oversee the funds. Thursday’s town hall was their first chance to hear from the public about how those dollars can best combat Delaware’s persistent overdose and addiction crises.
Treatment providers and caseworkers made up a large portion of the audience. They named state subsidies for medical care, long-term supportive housing, and transportation for people in recovery from addiction in rural areas as priorities.
Patricia Hill, a project manager at the Springboard Collective who conducts outreach in encampments, also suggests expanding treatment access to people who use substances other than opioids.
“Can we also reconsider the policies about what sort of substances somebody has to be using in order to be admitted?" she asked. "I just had two funerals just this year of people who were not admitted to care because their substances of choice were either crack or meth.”
State Rep. Ruth Briggs-King (R-Georgetown) argued the state should invest more in supportive housing and other long-term treatment options instead of the standard short-term treatment covered by most insurers.
“Long term, in-house treatment works better than 15 days in, 30 days out, 15 days in again," she said. "We have a vicious cycle that we need to address, and we need to have more long-term providers for that.”
The commission will start with $20 million to distribute to treatment, prevention and long-term care, among other purposes. Overdose deaths are still rising in the state with a record 42 deaths in May alone.
The next town hall is in New Castle County next week, followed by one in Kent County on July 25.
