A minimum of 25 New Jersey cities blew hundreds of thousands in opioid settlement cash, reportedly spending the huge windfall on lavish purchases like an electrical Mustang, customized monogrammed jackets and splashy live shows — as an alternative of significant dependancy providers the funds had been purported to assist.
The Backyard State, which has misplaced an estimated 30,000 to opioid deaths and left 150,000 addicted over the past decade, settled a groundbreaking nationwide lawsuit in 2021 in opposition to Large Pharma — Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, CVS and 10 different painkiller producers — that was initially praised by specialists, addicts’ family members and cash-strapped nonprofits as a measure of restitution and pathway out of the disaster, NJ.com reported.
However the $1.1 billion payout — set to be distributed by 2040 and half of which has funneled on to cities and counties since 2022 — has largely been used on expensive want lists as an alternative of beefing up dependancy providers, drug prevention efforts and coverings throughout the battered state, an investigation by the outlet discovered, citing specialists, advocates and a few state officers.
“That is blood cash,” stated former New Jersey assemblyman John Armato, who tragically misplaced his son Derek to a deadly overdose in 2020.
“A whole lot of hundreds of persons are dying due to this,” Armato, 78, fumed to the publication.
Among the many most extravagant purchases was a $73,000 customized vinyl wrapped 2022 Mustang Mach-E for the Atlantic Metropolis Police Division; $600,000 for 2 consciousness live shows in Irvington, and practically $150,000 to a non-profit in Camden to determine damaged road lamps.
Atlantic Metropolis obtained over $2.3 million from the settlement and has since gone on a buying spree — splashing the money on 30 monogrammed jackets and round $140,000 on clothes, backpacks, consulting providers and a metropolis homeless workforce program.
In the meantime, Irvington “wasted” over $600,000 on two opioid consciousness live shows in 2023 and 2024, in line with a blistering July 2025 report by the state comptroller’s workplace.
“Not one of the billboards, promotional supplies, or T-shirts that Irvington offered to the Workplace of the State Comptroller included details about acquiring remedy or avoiding abuse of opioids,” the report stated.
New Jersey municipalities have spent about $2.3 million of the complete opioid payout by exploiting imprecise settlement language and ambiguous pointers — which violates the 2021 nationwide settlement, a 2022 state lawyer normal’s memorandum and the 2023 state Opioid Legislation, in line with NJ.com.
Camden forked over $148,000 to a non-profit to determine and doc damaged streetlight, which metropolis spokesperson claimed was aimed to “impede the drug commerce and stop open drug use.”
Manchester Township spent $57,000 on a brand new automobile for a college useful resource officer to “fight drug dependancy and overdose associated points (within the) faculty system,” and Lindenwold, which obtained $166,000 within the settlement, deliberate to construct a trailer the place children may play video video games.
“I’m attempting to think about phrases that I might be keen to say in a newspaper, and I can’t consider ones which are secure to make use of,” Sandy Gibson, dependancy researcher and counselor at The Faculty of New Jersey stated of the outlandish expenditures.
“However that’s kind of every thing that’s fallacious with there being no oversight with this.”
Whereas some municipalities have spent the cash frivolously, others have come beneath hearth for sitting on it — with greater than $53 million amassing mud in municipal accounts for so long as three years, NJ.com reported.
As of June 2025, Summit had practically $1 million within the financial institution — however hadn’t spent a cent.
Summit Mayor Elizabeth Fagan stated the town hadn’t doled out any of the funding within the 2025 reporting interval as a result of it was doing “due diligence on acceptable administration of those funds in order that our course of is compliant with all legal guidelines and requirements.”
A strategic plan was shaped this yr and officers are working with native nonprofits to find out how the cash is spent, Fagan instructed the outlet.
“They’re not doing what’s meant. It’s simply sitting there unspent,” Gibson urged.
“You’re telling us what your priorities are. Your inaction tells us that’s not a precedence to you.”
Equally, Aberdeen Township additionally reported spending nothing, regardless of receiving simply shy of $130,000 in settlement funds since 2022.
Gibson slammed that whereas she’s “upset that these items are occurring,” she’s “much more upset that there’s no accountability.”
“Is there no accountability constructed into this course of?” she questioned.
In the meantime, state Assemblyman Cody Miller (D-Gloucester) stated he plans to draft laws to manage use of the opioid cash, calling for tighter oversight and transparency.
“When (Armato) initially instructed me what these funds had been being spent on, I used to be pissed off,” Miller stated.
“There’s a lot ambiguity with the settlement data … that it’s open to interpretation.”
Miller, whose older brother and sister have struggled with dependancy, stated municipalities and the state “can be taught from it” and that he hopes “it may well assist us ensure that we’re doing issues extra appropriately and that funds are being spent for his or her meant goal.”
