STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Locals have said for months that Staten Island isn’t getting its fair share of state funds secured in a series of opioid settlement lawsuits, and Mayor Eric Adams said last week that he’s working to rectify that.
During his July 17 town hall at Curtis High School, Adams fielded a question from Luke Nasta — the executive director of Camelot of Staten Island, a local non-profit organization that treats drug and alcohol abuse — about the disparity, and Adams said he completely understood the concern.
An initial $150 million round of funding to the city was partially run through Health+Hospitals (H+H), the city public hospital system, none of which are on Staten Island.
“You’re dead on,” Adams told Nasta about his concern. “It’s almost a set-up. If you’re saying it’s only going through H+H, you know Staten Island doesn’t have an H+H.”
While the mayor said he’d do what he can to ensure funding comes to Staten Island, a spokesperson for Attorney General Letitia James said Thursday morning that the decision to run some of the first round of funding through H+H was the mayor’s.
James and Adams announced in April 2022 that the state had reached settlements with opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corporation for a total of $256 million.
Those funds are distributed through the state’s Opioid Settlement Fund, which has an advisory board that recommends how to allocate the funds.
When the mayor announced the millions in funding last year, he described Staten Island as “ground zero” for the opioid crisis, but when announcing the initial $150 million, it was distributed among H+H, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Word of that initial funding drew the ire of local service providers and elected officials, including Borough President Vito Fossella, who shared a letter Tuesday that he, City Council Minority Leader Joe…
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