The state is expected to receive hundreds of millions of dollars from opioid epidemic-related settlements, and work is still being done to figure out the best way to spend that money.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration created an advisory group primarily made of up people of color to weigh in on the distribution of funds but recently disbanded it. Some former members of the group say they’re being silenced.
WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with Bridge Michigan reporter Ron French who has been following this story.
Interview Highlights
On the creation of the workgroup
The state as a whole is receiving $1.5 billion over 18 years in opioid settlements from national lawsuits. And so far, both if you combine the state and local government units, there have been about $180 million that are already sitting in bank accounts for spending on trying to help out the crisis that we have with drug use in the state. As part of that, the state put together a group of mainly minority community advocates in this area of drug abuse, and this was put together one and a half or two years ago.
On some of the recommendations the group put together
These recommendations included some things that were pretty controversial, such as drug decriminalization, a ban on pre-employment drug testing in the workplace, and there were also some things like mandatory racial equity and cultural humility training for state officials, and similar type of training for anyone who prescribes opioids such as doctors and pharmacists.
On what lead up to the group being disbanded
We really don't have a clear answer as to why they were dismissed. But the chronology of it was that this group turned in its recommendations to the state at a meeting in November ... and then suddenly in January, they get word that they have been disbanded. And so, it's difficult for some of the members to believe this is just coincidental timing as to why this has been disbanded. They think that it's because they were being a thorn in the side of the state.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: The state is expected to receive hundreds of millions of dollars due to opioid epidemic-related settlements, and work is still being done to figure out the best way to spend that money.
The Whitmer administration had created an advisory group primarily made of up people of color to weigh in but recently disbanded it. Some former members of the group say they’re being silenced.
Ron French is a reporter for Bridge Michigan who has been following this story. He joins me now. Thank you for being here.
Ron French: It's a pleasure to be here.
Saliby: Can you talk about why this group was formed and what they were tasked with doing?
French: The state as a whole is receiving $1.5 billion over 18 years in opioid settlements from national lawsuits. And so far, both if you combine the state and local government units, there have been about $180 million that are already sitting in bank accounts for spending on trying to help out the crisis that we have with drug use in the state.
As part of that, the state put together a group of mainly minority community advocates in this area of drug abuse, and this was put together one and a half or two years ago.
And this group met frequently. They put together, I think, 24 pages of recommendations to the state. And then things sort of fell apart later.
Saliby: What were these recommendations? Because that's a lot, 24 pages.
Communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by the opioid epidemic, more addiction and more deaths connected with opioids than in the white population. And so, it made sense for this group to be here to look at this issue.
French: Because it was a racial equity workgroup did focus primarily on some equity issues that they were concerned about, and it made sense that these groups we're looking at this.
Communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by the opioid epidemic, more addiction and more deaths connected with opioids than in the white population. And so, it made sense for this group to be here to look at this issue.
These recommendations included some things that were pretty controversial, such as drug decriminalization, a ban on pre-employment drug testing in the workplace, and there were also some things like mandatory racial equity and cultural humility training for state officials, and similar type of training for anyone who prescribes opioids such as doctors and pharmacists. So, there were some things that could have been looked at by some groups in the state as something that was possibly going too far.
Saliby: From what I understand from your reporting, these recommendations were never put out in an official public capacity. That was kind of part of this issue as to why the group was disbanded, and it all kind of happened rather suddenly in these past few weeks. Can you kind of break down why this group was basically dismissed?
French: Well, we really don't have a clear answer as to why they were dismissed. But the chronology of it was that this group turned in its recommendations to the state at a meeting in November.
And in December, there was a meeting where, among other things, the group was asking, "Why hasn't this report been released?" There was a very tense meeting at which the community members who are part of this workgroup were concerned that they were being silenced, that their report was never going to be made public.
It still has not been made public other than in Bridge. But state officials basically said, "Well, we, you know, this is normal standard operating procedure for us to look through these reports and have feedback on these sorts of things." Which may be true, but best case scenario for the state, there was a very poor management of this group because they became very upset about this. They felt that they had put a lot of work into this and then really silenced.
It's difficult for some of the members to believe this is just coincidental timing as to why this has been disbanded. They think that it's because they were being a thorn in the side of the state.
So that happened in December, and then suddenly in January, they get word that they have been disbanded. And so, it's difficult for some of the members to believe this is just coincidental timing as to why this has been disbanded. They think that it's because they were being a thorn in the side of the state.
Saliby: And what has the state said in response to these concerns from former members of the group that they were being silenced that, you know, it's because of these issues we had in the fall. Has the state given any explanation?
French: The state says this is normal, that once a workgroup puts together its recommendations, they stop meeting. They also say that any of the members who want to can continue to work on some subcommittees on this topic with the state if they'd like to.
The state says this is normal, that once a workgroup puts together its recommendations, they stop meeting. They also say that any of the members who want to can continue to work on some subcommittees on this topic with the state if they'd like to.
They also say that, "You shouldn't read into it that we don't care about racial equity. That at this point, now we're going to try to incorporate racial equity thinking in all their work on this topic as opposed to one specific workgroup."
Saliby: As it stands, these recommendations aren't public, so there's not kind of a clear answer for if and how they'll be incorporated in making decisions about how this money will be used. Does that feel right?
French: That's correct at the moment the Opioids Task Force, I assume, will be putting out recommendations more specific than what they have so far. That's the larger group that is, was in charge of the workgroup that was disbanded. So, we assume that the opioid task force that was put together by Governor Whitmer's administration is going to be putting out recommendations.
And at that point, we may see how much of the recommendations of the racial equity workgroup put together are actually made public. So, we're sort of in a holding pattern now to see what the state will do.
Saliby: Ron French is a reporter with Bridge Michigan. Thank you for being here.
French: Thank you very much.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
