Photo Courtesy of Mayoral Photography Office
“This money will help us save lives,” Mayor Adams said.
By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams recently outlined the City’s initial investments from the opioid settlement funds secured for the city by New York Attorney General Letitia James from settlements with different manufacturers and distributors of opioids. The funds will go toward strengthening existing services, boosting workforce capacity, and supporting families who have lost loved ones. These investments spring from the first round of payments the City received from the fund.
With this first round of investments, $150 million over the next five years will go toward:
Strengthening Harm Reduction and Treatment in Communities
- Sustaining and expanding hours and services at the city’s existing Syringe Service Programs (SSPs) that operate Overdose Prevention Centers (OPCs) to reduce risk of overdoses among people who use drugs and offer them connections to other services and supports, like treatment.
- Expanding access to Street Health Outreach and Wellness (SHOW) mobile harm reduction clinics and connections to provide care in communities hardest hit by the overdose epidemic.
Expanding Support for Treatment Optimization Strategies
- Supporting additional staff within the city’s public hospital system to expand their emergency department substance use consult team to 24/7 operations across 11 hospitals.
- Training the behavioral health workforce to build expertise in addressing co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders.
Strengthening Community Support for People Who Use Drugs and Their Families
- Expanding support for the families of drug overdose decedents by connecting them to critical mental health and social services supports in the crucial window following a death and according to their particular needs.
There are three main pools of fund money from the settlements for New York City. The first pool will flow through the Office of the New York State Attorney General. The second pool will flow through the New York State Office of Addiction and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), guided by the Opioid Settlement Board. The third pool is a direct-to-localities funding mechanism for approved uses. Through this mechanism, New York City will receive approximately $286 million over the next 18 years, and of that, $150 million over the next five years will go toward supporting the initiatives listed above.
“Too many New Yorkers have suffered from death and addiction and too many families and communities have been torn apart,” Adams said. “With the funding secured by Attorney General James from Big Pharma, we will address the multiple crises that have stemmed from the opioid epidemic — from harm reduction, to expanded treatment options, to support for families who have lost loved ones to drug overdoses. This money will help us save lives, and I thank Attorney General James for her partnership in fighting to end the opioid crisis and building a healthier and safer New York City.”
This funding comes at an urgent time. In the third quarter of 2021, there were 709 overdose deaths in New York City, compared to 552 overdose deaths during the same period in 2020, according to a newly released City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene report. The third quarter of 2021 had the highest number of overdose deaths in a single quarter compared with any quarter-year on record.
