In our spotlight on business report.
Opioid settlement money is finally starting to flow in.
New Jersey is slated to receive more than $640 million over the next 18 years.
It's all part of a larger $50 billion pot from settlements with pharmaceutical companies that made and sold opioid painkillers.
But the debate over how state and local officials should spend it is just beginning.
Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports.
We are unfortunately finding that they're not hearing what we said at those listening sessions.
Elizabeth Burke Beaty's concerned over how New Jersey will spend a $641 million legal settlement from drug makers that helped fuel the nation's opioid epidemic.
Her Ocean County group helps folks struggling with addiction, and it deserves some of that money, she told the state's Opioid Recovery and Remediation Advisory Council during listening sessions on how best to channel those funds.
Beaty's worried.They listened to us and they act like they're concerned.
And we get a lot of, you know, oh, wow, that's really interesting.
Thank you for your time.
And then we thought we see over and over again.
It's falling on deaf ears.
I think that they don't look at us as experts in this field and they don't take what we have to say seriously enough.
And we are saying these are the places we believe would make the biggest impact and curb overdose deaths.
Elissa Tierney, like Beaty, is a recovering addict working on the frontlines to save people from opioids.
Her grassroots group joined about 130 others to issue a national report advising states where to focus some $50 billion in drug settlement awards money with an emphasis on harm reduction.
It urges spend money on medication for addiction treatment.
Syringe exchange programs.
Access to Narcan and overdose prevention centers.
Also expand housing outreach for people in recovery.
That's a game changer, says Divad Sanders with Newark's Community Street team.
It changes the trajectory of what happens next, right?
They're able to get up in the morning.
They're able to to shower.
They're able to sleep without having to have one eye open.
Harm reduction.
The whole philosophy is that you can keep people alive even if they're continuing to use drugs.
Or they're awaiting access to treatment.
They do not need to die.
Right.
They do not need to die of an overdose.
In New Jersey, almost 2900 people lost that battle with opioids last year.
40 last week.
The council has yet to issue a report, but money will be divided 50-50 between the state and local municipalities.
Beaty's met with Ocean County's committee.
Tierney says Monmouth hasn't even scheduled hearings yet.
The grassroots groups, most operating on a shoestring, all agree that no money should fund law enforcement.
They are already well resourced.
While we are literally doing this work on peanuts, Her team interviewed 400 people in the Newark area to design their program.
We use I interviewed active drug users to make sure that our program design met their needs.
And the majority of our participants said they want to access services and help through a community program.
They do not want to access it through law enforcement.
Some groups believe the advisory council needs more representation from New Jersey's rural areas hit hard by the opioid epidemic but lacking in resources.
They all think New Jersey needs to build and staff more recovery community centers despite pushback.
This is litigation money that has been won by people who have lost their loved ones, who are still suffering from those losses.
And for people that we need to stand up for.
The council has not yet issued a report.
I'm Brenda Flanagan.
NJ Spotlight News.