Public Health Leaders Applaud Senator Vitale for Clawing Back $45 million Meant for Harm Reduction
Trenton, NJ – Earlier today, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee advanced Senate Bill 4792, legislation to restore money that lawmakers raided from the Opioid Settlement Fund in the FY26 budget. The June raid was a last-minute, back-room deal that diverted $45 million from opioid settlement funds to four politically connected hospitals without justification or oversight, and with most lawmakers not aware of the raid.
The raid in June came mere weeks after the NJ Opioid Recovery and Advisory Council, created by the legislature, released its strategic plan on how the Opioid Settlement Funds should be used. The Council recommended lifesaving harm reduction, housing, and recovery services and, not surprisingly, did not recommend giving money to hospitals with no strings attached.
Following the June raid, family members, recovery counselors, and harm reduction leaders staged a die-in and banner drop during the legislature’s final budget vote and sent nearly 1,400 letters to lawmakers condemning the raid. The proposed legislation, championed by Senators Vitale, Singleton, Diegnan, and Turner, would reverse the raid and restore $45 million to the Opioid Settlement Fund.
In response to the committee vote today, New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition issued the following statement:
Jenna Mellor, New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition
“Lawmakers have the moral and legal obligation to restore these funds, and today they took an important step to do just that. This money was already earmarked for lifesaving harm reduction services and community organizations on the front lines of the overdose crisis. These groups are responsible for New Jersey’s decline in overdose deaths over the last few years. We can’t pull the rug out from under them. We won’t stop fighting until the money goes to the services it’s meant for.”
The following groups have expressed support for the legislation:
- Abbey Insurance
- Agape Project
- AIDS United
- Camden AHEC
- EDGE NJ
- Hyacinth AIDS Foundation
- Imperfect Village
- Integrity House
- JBJ Soul Kitchen
- Maryville Integrated Care
- National Black Harm Reduction Network
- National Center for Advocacy and Recovery
- New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice
- New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition
- Newark Community Street Team
- North Jersey Community Research Initiative
- Prevention Links
- Recovery Friendly New Jersey
- SafeSceneNJ
- Salvation and Social Justice
- SeaChange Recovery Community Organization
- South Jersey Aids Alliance
- Spectrum Health Care
- WADEIn New Jersey
- Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Network
- New Jersey Working Families Party
