NYC to receive first payment in $88.9 million worth of opioid settlement cash
Attorney General Tish James and Mayor Adams came together Thursday to announce they’ll be putting millions of dollars in drug money to good use.
Over the next year, New York City will receive $88.9 million as part of $1.5 billion in legal settlements that James has won from manufacturers and distributors of opioids. This week alone, the city is expected to get $11.5 million of that settlement money. In total, the Big Apple will receive at least $256 million as part of the settlements James has secured.
The money will go primarily toward funding addiction treatment, prevention and education programs.
“These funds will have an immediate impact on our communities, on individuals on the ground who are struggling with drug addiction,” James said during a press conference with Mayor Adams outside Bellevue Hospital. “This devastation and destruction has claimed so many lives and impacted so many families. We’re here today to turn the tide on this crisis.”
The initial payments will come from settlements with several opioid distributors, including AmerisourceBergen Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc. and the McKesson Corporation. Additional settlement cash is expected to be paid out later this year by Endo Health Solutions, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Allergan.
James noted that more funds could be on the way as part of a trial victory against Teva Pharmaceuticals. A dollar amount has not yet been determined for a settlement in that case.
“Many people thought it was not possible. They thought we could not go after Big Pharma,” Adams said, turning to James. “I just really want to personally thank you. The number of overdoses that we have witnessed in the first quarter of 2021 — we’ve experienced roughly 1,200 overdoses. We don’t know the final numbers coming in in 2022, but it’s a real issue. It’s a crisis.”
In 2020, overdose deaths shot up to nearly 92,000 nationwide — the highest figure in U.S. history. Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, who also attended Thursday’s announcement, called the situation with opioids a “fire alarm crisis” and noted that New York City is losing more of its residents to overdose deaths than to murders, suicide and vehicular crashes, combined.
“There’s no dollar amount that can make up for what we’ve already lost, no amount of money that can make up for the loss of loved ones,” James said.
How the settlement money is used will be restricted to treatment, prevention and education. Exactly how it’s applied to those areas will be up to the Adams administration, the city’s Health Department and its Health + Hospital network to decide.
Adams has released a blueprint to address gun violence and one for the city’s economic recovery. On Thursday, he suggested he’s also considering one when it comes to tackling addiction in the city.
“What are the feeders that we need to really examine, and then the goal is to go out with city, state and federal resources to start damming the rivers that are feeding these crises,” he said. “We’re going to do the same thing with opioid overdoses.”
