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Date: 3/16/2023
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Town officials will use their first payment from a lawsuit settlement by opioid drug manufacturers to install vaping detectors at the high school and middle school.
The Town Council voted 8-0 on March 6 to transfer $10,500 from the town’s reserve account to a new account from which it can be spent on programs to fight drug abuse. The figure represents the amount of money West Springfield is receiving from the nationwide lawsuit.
Town Counsel Kate O’Brien Scott told councilors that this is just the first payment from a national lawsuit against drugmakers, pharmacies and other companies that were prosecuted by state attorneys general for their role in providing a supply of opioid drugs for abuse.
According to the State House News Service, the states had argued that pharmaceutical companies understated the addictiveness of opioid painkillers, leading to their over-prescription by doctors, and that distributors failed to question suspicious orders, resulting in drugs reaching the streets for recreational use.
The settlements are being paid to the 13 state governments that brought the lawsuit. Maura Healey, who is now the governor but was the attorney general at the time, announced last year that she would direct 40 percent of Massachusetts’ share of the settlement to be split among the 351 cities and towns. The remaining 60 percent will be spent at the state level, on anti-addiction and anti-overdose programs. Since 2000, more than 21,000 deaths in Massachusetts have been blamed on opioid abuse.
O’Brien Scott said West Springfield can expect to receive annual payments for the next 20 years, though the dollar figure each year may be different. The money must be spent on programs related to drug abuse.
“We could only use this money for the limited purposes that are articulated in the settlement,” said O’Brien Scott.
In a letter to the Town Council, Mayor William Reichelt said the settlement is required by law to be paid to the town’s general fund, but because of the restrictions on how it can be spent, he wanted to see it transferred to its own budget account, where it can be overseen by the Law Department.
O’Brien Scott said the West Springfield CARE Coalition, a volunteer group that works on education and prevention efforts to reduce substance abuse and promote healthy choices among youth, requested the vaping detectors at the two schools covering grades 6-8 and 9-12.
She also said the vaping detectors will help school administrators know when electronic cigarettes — “vapes” — are being used in the school buildings, so that teens can be steered away from nicotine addiction and other harmful side effects of vaping.
Althea St. transfer OK’d
Councilors also approved, 8-0, the acceptance of the 0.61-acre parcel at 19 Althea St., a vacant lot at the bend in the road near Riverdale Street. The land is being donated to the town government as conservation property. The owner of the land is seeking to redevelop the parcel on the other side of Althea Street, which fronts on Riverdale Street, and the town Conservation Commission mandated setting aside conservation property as a mitigation for denser commercial use.
In response to a question from Town Councilor Michael Eger, O’Brien Scott said annual taxes being paid on the Althea Street property are less than $100, and their loss will be offset “probably several times over” by the increase in taxes to be paid on the Riverdale Street property once it is redeveloped.