Delaware has plans to spend some of the new funds raised from its tax on opioids.
The opioid impact fee was signed into law in 2019. It charges opioid manufacturers one penny for every morphine milligram equivalent dispensed in the state and has so far raised $1.5 million.
$700,000 of that has now been allocated to begin operating the state’s mental health bridge clinics 24 hours a day, to purchase more of the overdose reversal medication naloxone for free distribution and to provide transportation and transitional housing for people in recovery for substance abuse.
This announcement comes as Delaware expects to see another record year of overdose deaths – exceeding 500 for the first time.
Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall Long says she thinks that number would be higher were it not for the funding and resources the state has put towards this crisis.
“It’s sad. It touches us,” said Hall Long. “500 is too many, but if we did not have in place what we have, I am really convinced it would be greater. We have taken the foot off the accelerator.”
Delaware had the second highest overdose death rate in the country last year with 431 deaths.
The bulk of the newly allocated funds goes towards the bridge clinics.
Alexis Teitelbaum is acting director for the Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. She says the state is looking to add stabilization centers at the clinics and in emergency departments to refer overdose patients to support services.
“The bridge clinic is fully equipped with doctors and nurses to be able to provide that 24-7 support, and so we’re interested to be able to pursue those options within each county,” said Teitelbaum.
Opioid distribution has been on a gradual decline in Delaware in recent years, but the rate per capita in the state is still slightly higher than the national average.
Mallinckrodt Pharma and Purdue Pharma are the biggest opioid distributors in the state - each contributing more than $360,000 to the $1.5 million the state has collected in total from the impact fee.
