D4DPR Health Advocacy Network Training Webinar - “Opioid Settlement Funds: Lessons from New Jersey”

Doctors for Drug Policy Reform Presents:

Health Advocacy Network Training Series Webinar: “Opioid Settlement Funds: Lessons from New Jersey"

Exploring what advocates can learn from New Jersey’s fight over opioid settlement funds

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

7-8 pm ET

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D4DPR founder Dr. David L. Nathan will host this webinar presented by Sea Change executive director Elizabeth Burke Beaty, CPRS, for a timely discussion on where opioid settlement funds are going, who is being left out, and what clinicians can do about it.

Billions of dollars in opioid settlement funds are being distributed across the country. Too often, that money is being diverted away from the communities it was meant to serve. Our speaker will draw on New Jersey as a case study: $45 million earmarked for harm reduction has been redirected to three hospitals. With the state budget deadline approaching this June and the governor already on record opposing the diversion, there is a real opportunity to reverse course and set a national example.

Speaker will cover:

• Why opioid settlement funds must prioritize evidence-based harm reduction
• How dollars are being tracked nationally, including through the National Opioid Settlement Tracker
• The New Jersey fight to restore $45 million, and the role of 45milliondollarwatch.org
• How clinicians can advocate for equitable spending in their own states

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About our Speaker:

Elizabeth Burke Beaty, CPRS, is the Founding Executive Director of Sea Change Recovery Community & Harm Reduction Center in New Jersey. With over thirty years of lived experience and service, she has dedicated her career to preventing overdose deaths, advancing harm reduction, and challenging the stigma surrounding substance use. Elizabeth was instrumental in establishing Ocean County's first state-authorized harm reduction center and co-founded the NJ Opioid Settlement Advocacy Group. She co-authored both The National Roadmap for Opioid Settlement Funds and The New Jersey Roadmap for Opioid Settlement Funds, and her advocacy has contributed to major legislative victories including the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act and two anti-body brokering bills in New Jersey.

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This webinar will be recorded and posted on the Health Advocacy Network Portal and Physicians for Opioid Settlement Equity Portal.

D4DPR webinars and events are supported by our members and donors, and may be supported with funding from the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), the Open Society Foundations (OSF), and an unrestricted grant from the Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust (HART). Support does not influence D4DPR’s policy positions or educational content.

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