New Haven officials marked National Fentanyl Awareness Day on Tuesday by giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to community health centers.
The money comes from the first part of the city’s opioid settlement funds. More than $2 million from federal lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and retailers will be distributed in New Haven in the coming years.
According to Mayor Justin Elicker, the $650,000 will go toward community health centers and the purchase of Narcan and drug testing supplies.
“Not a week goes by in New Haven where we don't lose one or two or three people,” Elicker said. “And those numbers are staggering. In 2023, 115 New Haven residents were lost to overdoses. That's 115 people in New Haven lost to overdoses. Eighty-five percent of the fatalities involved fentanyl.”
State Attorney General William Tong visited Fair Haven Community Health Care, one of the centers that will receive funds, to speak about the impact addiction has on the entire state.
“We lose somewhere around 1,500 people every year here in Connecticut,” Tong said. “That's 1,500 families that are racked by this crisis, right, whose lives are changed forever, and estimated more than $10 billion in economic damage.”
The state has already received just under $10 million from the funds. It’s expected to receive $600 million.
