Opioid town hall: Community calls for transparency, recovery programs

Bernalillo County, ABQ gather feedback on how to spend $51M in opioid settlement funds

BY CATHY COOK

JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Parents grieving children who died from an overdose, people who once struggled with addiction and the heads of local nonprofits were among the crowd gathered recently at the Manzano Mesa Multigenerational Center to discuss how local governments should spend $51 million in opioid settlement dollars.

The suggestions included funding existing programs that help people get out of addiction, more long-term treatment programs, direct financial assistance for people

impacted by the opioid crisis who are struggling to pay for essentials, money for more peer support workers, pitches for a program that teaches print screening to people on probation, a proposal to distribute a poetry book to the homeless and a harm reduction project that offers Narcan training at punk shows.

Black and white posters of New Mexicans who have died from opioid overdoses were set up around the room near the end of the town hall on Thursday night, and the moderator, Sindy Bolaños, reminded the audience that the state is only getting the money because of the people who have died from opioid use.

New Mexico’s state government was part of dozens of lawsuits against companies such as Walgreens that retail, manufacture or distribute prescriptions opioids. The settlements from those lawsuits could bring $1 billion into the state.

The city of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County committed in matching October resolutions to develop a strategic plan together before spending any more of their collective $51 million in opioid settlement dollars. The county has received $23.1 million, while the city has gotten $27.6 million. A fraction of the funds has been used, but spending was paused to create a joint strategic plan for the rest of the money.

Together, both governments are hosting a series of five town halls to get community input on how that money should be put to use. Two more town halls remain. They are also collecting feedback from the community via listening sessions and an online survey.

The community opinions will be used in the strategic plan for spending the opioid settlement dollars.

Nurse practitioner Marianne Randall came to the town hall because she’s skeptical that the money will be used appropriately. She used to work in addiction medicine and thinks Albuquerque has few good addiction treatment programs. The city needs more programs that are longer than 30, 60 or 90 days, she said.

“There’s a lot of companies that are out there making a whole bunch of money getting providers to prescribe Suboxone (used to treat opiate addiction), some other drugs as well. The companies are getting rich, and I’m afraid they’re going to get the lion’s share of this money,” Randall said.

Jeffrey Holland, executive director of transitional housing and substance abuse rehab Endorphin Power Company, is also concerned about agencies taking government funds without actually getting the people they serve out of addiction.

“We talked about governmental accountability and transparency, and I’m all on board with that, but what we really need is agency transparency,” Holland said. “New Mexico is a target right now. We’ve got high numbers of overdoses and high numbers of addictions. What that means is a bunch of predatory practices. We’ve got places out there right now that are filling Medicaid and putting 10, 12, 14, people in two-bedroom apartments ... concerned about how many hours can they bill for.”

Kaissa Inzunza volunteers with the Punk Safety Initiative, which offers Narcan training at punk and hardcore shows. She supports money for more harm reduction programs, but said it is hard to measure the effectiveness of harm reduction programs because the goal is not to stop people from doing drugs but to keep them alive.

There need to be programs for people with a dual diagnosis of a mental health disorder and a substance abuse disorder, said Laurel Shaffer.

“You have a huge population of people with mental illness who self-medicate. Our son, he overdosed on Central and First in May. ... We have been through the system for eight years. ... There isn’t anything long term, other than 30, 60, 90 days,” Shaffer said. “You have to have an individual who is in their mind, who says, ‘I’m ready,’ who happens to be sober, and oh, by the way, we have availability.”

Sober houses weren’t prepared to deal with her son’s schizoaffective disorder, and mental health programs did not want to deal with his addiction, she said.

Paul Chavez, executive director of State of the Heart Recovery, a recovery program based in Albuquerque’s International District, said that longer-term recovery programs with accountability and resources work.

“If you can give enough resources to somebody,” Chavez said, “they will make better choices.”

Cathy Cook is a news reporter for the Albuquerque Journal. Reach her via email at ccook@abqjournal.com