The FY2024 report describes Blue Cares as a 24 hour hotline staffed by certified peer recovery specialists, run by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office. Asked how the program was procured, the County answered that the Prosecutor's Office is funded directly for this initiative to make up a shortfall and allow this successful program to continue and expand. That is the County's own description of an existing program with a funding gap filled by settlement money. Settlement money may not replace existing funding. The 75,000.00 was charged to the Prosecutor's opioid settlement line on 06/06/2024. On 08/08/2025 the County encumbered a further 193,680.00 on the abatement line for a Blue Cares Hotline agreement. The Prosecutor's earlier funding for Blue Cares is not in the produced record, so whether settlement money replaced it has not been tested.
The documents behind this page are on the record. Whether they meet a statutory definition is a legal conclusion this project does not draw.