ALBANY – New York has reached more than $2 billion in settlements struck with prescription drug manufacturers and distributors that helped fuel the opioid epidemic.
But as drug-related deaths continue to rise in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration now faces criticism that so far relatively little has been dispersed to addiction treatment providers overwhelmed with demand for their services.
The 21-member state Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board oversees the Hochul administration’s distribution of the dollars, and two of its commissioners said the administration’s approach has lacked sufficient urgency. The two commissioners, Avi Israel and Anne Constantino, are longtime leaders of addiction treatment nonprofits in Western New York.
Their critiques were echoed by Rob Kent, the former general counsel for the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS), the agency principally responsible for distributing the settlement funds.
“The pace of spending doesn’t seem to be matching the urgency of the issue,” Kent said in an interview. “I don’t pretend to understand why they’re doing it the way they’re doing it.”
OASAS leaders say their explanation for the agency’s approach is simple: They are following recommendations issued by the advisory board, whose members are now leveling criticisms toward the Hochul administration.
“It’s sort of a challenging position,” OASAS Commissioner Chinazo Cunningham said in an interview. “To now hear that we shouldn’t follow the recommendations – after being told, very strongly, that we should do nothing until we receive their recommendations.”
Last year, the number of overdose deaths in the United States leveled off and were only slightly higher than in 2021, according to preliminary federal data released in May.
But in New York, the overdose death figure was predicted to increase from 6,107 in 2021 to 6,677 in 2022, according to preliminary data…
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