Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley Accepting Grant Proposals For Oxycontin Settlement Funds

September 05, 2007 --BOSTON - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office is now accepting grant applications from qualified municipal coalitions and collaboratives throughout the Commonwealth to subsidize programs directed at combating substance abuse and addiction. The funding for the grants stems from a May 2007 multistate consent judgment against Purdue Pharma, the maker of the narcotic pain medication OxyContin. As part of the judgment, Massachusetts received $949,500. The Attorney General’s Office plans to use the settlement funds to fund eight to ten programs, ranging in the amount of $75,000-$100,000 each. The money can be used for education, outreach and monitoring programs. These grants will complement the work of agencies in Massachusetts working on the implementation of the Department of Public Health’s Strategic Plan, the Governor’s Inter-Agency Task group on Substance Use and Abuse and efforts by the Massachusetts Department of Education.

“We are pleased that this settlement gives us the opportunity to fund crucial prevention programs,” said Attorney General Martha Coakley. “We look forward to working with communities, many of whom have seen firsthand the devastating affects of OxyContin abuse, to create innovative programs that make youth aware of the devastating addictive risks associated with the long-term use of OxyContin and other drugs of abuse.”

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Massachusettswas a leader of the multi-state investigation concerning Purdue Pharma’s extensive off-label marketing of OxyContin. The investigation uncovered that Purdue Pharma failed to disclose abuse and addiction risks associated with the drug. The consent judgment ordered Purdue Pharma to pay a total of $19.5 million to the 26 participating states. Purdue Pharma also agreed to a number of restrictions regarding their marketing of the drug.

Interested parties can apply for the grant by submitting a Request for Response form, which can be found on www.comm-pass.com. The deadline for applications is November 15, 2007. The grant money will be awarded to communities in January of 2008.

Source: Massachusetts Attorney General