Platkin slams diversion of opioid settlement money to hospitals

Attorney General Matt Platkin took aim at the New Jersey Legislature this morning, criticizing a decision to send $45 million in opioid settlement dollars to several major state hospitals, arguing that the decision breaks a pledge he and Gov. Phil Murphy made to use the money on “evidence-based solutions to help those struggling with opioid addiction — not to pad the state’s coffers.”

“My office fought for years against companies who profited off the deaths and addiction of thousands upon thousands of New Jerseyans,” Platkin said.  “These settlement funds are not general revenues for the state. They are the result of some of the most significant lawsuits ever filed by attorneys general across this country to force companies to pay back the blood money that they stole in fueling the opioid epidemic. Spending this money in this way is a slap in the face to every family who lost a loved one in this devastating crisis.”

Platkin noted how the state used funds from a 1998 settlement with Big Tobacco by diverting about $92 million to the state’s general fund.

“We were fully mindful of not repeating the mistakes made with the state’s tobacco settlement funds, which should have been used exclusively to address damage caused by cigarettes.

Instead, Platkin urged Murphy and the legislature to reject the proposal and use the funds for “their intended purpose: to help the people of New Jersey who are struggling with addiction.”

“Rest assured, if they do not, my office will be carefully scrutinizing these hospital systems to make sure every single dollar is spent within the terms of the settlements we fought for years to obtain,” Platkin stated.

Jenna Mellor, the executive director of the New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition and a member of the New Jersey Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund Advisory Council, slammed the decision to send $45 million to a group of New Jersey hospitals without any plan or strings attached.

“This is a blatant, shameful misuse of opioid settlement funds. We’re talking about literal blood money from the drug companies that profited from the overdose crisis, and they’re stealing it. This settlement was never meant to be a slush fund or go to big hospital systems with no strings attached,” said Mellor.  “If this money is taken, the state will not be able to pay for the life saving harm reduction services it’s already committed to.”