New Jersey is set to receive $641 million from the $26 billion federal opioid settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors, giving our state a rare opportunity to build and strengthen the treatment infrastructure that can help to make a real, demonstrable and lasting difference in turning the tide of the tragic and ongoing opioid/fentanyl epidemic.

Right now, Gov. Phil Murphy’s Opioid Recovery and Remediation Advisory Council is deciding how this $641 million, as well as the subsequent $450 million that will soon follow from a separate opioid settlement, will be allocated for the greatest benefit for the citizens of New Jersey.

For decades, Integrity House and other treatment agencies across the state have proven to be the essential backbone for successful opioid/fentanyl treatment in New Jersey. But Integrity House, like many other treatment facilities across the state, is in desperate need of fundamental structural and physical facilities improvements so that we can successfully carry on our lifesaving mission. This is an area where the use of federal money is generally not permitted, and where the state has provided virtually no funding over the past 15 years. As a result, many of our buildings and facilities, where effective opioid and fentanyl treatment is taking place every day, are being held together, in many cases, on the proverbial “wing and a prayer.”

Funding for the essential infrastructure and physical facilities that New Jersey’s successful treatment programs require is essential for the support of effective and continued opioid/fentanyl treatment in our state and will help us to combat this public health scourge.

Another essential infrastructure need that can and should be addressed by the infusion of opioid settlement money is in the area of safe, supportive and sober housing. Despite indisputable evidence that sober housing is a proven effective strategy in helping the severely addicted to achieve lasting, long-term recovery, there has been woefully inadequate investment in this area. Safe, supportive and sober housing is essential to the recovery process and cannot be dismissed. The available research — as well as my personal observation as someone who has worked in addiction treatment for well over 25 years — is that for those severely addicted, a period of time spent in sober housing following a rigorous, intensive residential treatment program, leads to far better long-term outcomes.

The way the current system is set up, we have far too many people who immediately go from intensive treatment right back to their home environment, where all the social, economic, psychological and community influences that contributed to their addiction are unchanged. The truth is that during this fragile time in recovery, they are at a high risk of relapse and continuing use. Safe, sober, supportive housing can help to break this cycle, and ease those in recovery back into society, where they can rebuild their lives, restore their families and become contributing members of society.

Last year, 2,892 people in New Jersey died from opioid-related overdoses. Included in that number are many who made a real, honest and difficult decision to seek out treatment, but were unfortunately sucked back into the cycle of continued drug use. As residents and their families continue to struggle with the ongoing effects of addiction and opioid-use disorder, the money from this settlement can help to build the essential infrastructure that will allow trained treatment professionals to provide those most affected by the opioid crisis with higher levels of integrated care and vital support services. Providing safe, sober, secure housing as a step in their transition from residential treatment will save lives.

I strongly urge the Advisory Council to use part of the settlement money for these essential infrastructure needs. This influx of settlement money provides a generational opportunity to fund these facilities withprograms that have a proven track record of success. These are areas that are not being met by traditional government funding and are far too great to be addressed through fundraising alone. And these investments will continue to pay dividends well into the future.

Those of us on the front lines of addiction treatment know where the most critical needs lie. Let us help to guide this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a real, lasting difference in the lives of those touched by this tragic epidemic.