A pair of state legislators who serve on the House Health Policy Committee today criticized Democrats in Lansing and the governor over the potential elimination of a key panel dedicated to curbing Michigan’s opioid crisis.

A recent report from Bridge Michigan outlines communications between officials with the state’s Department of Health and Human Services and a senior advisor of Governor Gretchen Whitmer about getting rid of the Opioid Advisory Commission, which was created in 2022 and advises lawmakers on how best to spend $1.6 billion in opioid settlement funds for addiction and recovery resources, overdose prevention, public awareness efforts, and more.

Members of the Opioid Advisory Commission have been critical of how the state is operating when it comes to how the funds – which will be paid out over 18 years with half going directly to counties, cities and townships and the rest being distributed by the state – have been used. Gretchen Whitmer has her own panel, the Michigan Opioids Task Force, in addition to the advisory commission established by the Legislature.

“The advisory commission provides crucial and needed oversight as a non-partisan group of experts and is helping develop best practices for how to fight addiction, help our families, support our communities, and utilize resources the best that we can,” Thompson said. “The reality is – sometimes this work and these conversations involve telling someone else that a particular strategy isn’t the best way forward and isn’t working for people in need. That’s a fundamental and natural part of collaboration as legislators and state officials work to solve problems. Doing away with the commission to elevate another group she created would be a political play by the governor’s administration to consolidate more power while Michigan faces this crisis, which isn’t what this should be about.”

“Dismantling the Opioid Advisory Commission would be a huge step backward in our fight against addiction and overdose deaths,” Schmaltz said. “The governor and the state should not have complete authority over how this money is used or where it goes. This commission is made up of experts who have dedicated their careers to combating the opioid crisis, and they provide essential oversight and guidance on how we can use opioid settlement funds to save lives across Michigan. These experts are tasked with holding the state accountable and making sure that these funds are being spent where they are needed most — in our communities, supporting addiction treatment, recovery support, and overdose prevention programs.”

To help facilitate collaboration and spur solutions, Thompson and Schmaltz recently introduced House Bill 5967, which requires the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to share information with the state’s Opioid Advisory Commission when the commission is completing any annual commission reports. Currently, DHHS keeps records on numbers, trends, patterns and risk factors related to opioid-related overdose fatalities that occur in the state each year.

For years, Michigan had one of the highest fatal overdose rates in the country. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that nearly 3,000 people died from drug overdoses in Michigan in 2023, with the majority involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

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