State Attorney General announces Hudson Valley getting funds to fight opioid crisis

Oct. 6—Hudson Valley counties will be getting as much as $94 million to combat the opioid crisis, State Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday.

The money will come from settlements James has negotiated following her March 2019 lawsuit against various manufacturers and distributors who she said were responsible for the crisis.

"After more than two decades of having lethal opioids spread across every county of the Hudson Valley, today we are helping this community heal by announcing we will be delivering up to $94 million to invest in opioid prevention, treatment and recovery," James said.

"While no amount of money will ever make up for all the lives lost, these funds will be vital in helping to prevent future deaths," she added.

At the time it was filed, James' lawsuit was the most extensive one in the nation against various manufacturers and distributors of opioids. She said the defendants heavily marketed opioids to doctors, hospitals, health care systems and others, which led to over-prescription of drugs in New York and across the nation.

Under a new law passed by state lawmakers earlier this year, all funds from settlements or litigation victories against the manufacturers and distributors will go into a special fund to support prevention, treatment and recovery programs aimed at combatting the opioid crisis, rather than into the state's general coffers as before.

The Hudson Valley counties will receive a total ranging from $51.7 million to $94.45 million.

The more localities across the state that agree to the terms of the different settlements, the more each locality is eligible to receive. The figures announced by James do not include payments from Purdue Pharma or the Sackler family, owners of Purdue, and foundations they control, as the regional split for those payments is still being finalized.

Cases against two remaining defendants are moving separately through U.S. Bankruptcy Court, while a trial against two other defendants is still under way in state court.

James said the range of funding coming to each county would be as follows:

— Westchester County, $10.67 million to $18.88 million.

— Orange County, $4.36 million to $7.61 million.

— Dutchess County, $3.68 million to $6.43 million.

— Rockland County, $2.59 million to $4.52 million.

— Sullivan County, $1.58 million to $2.77 million.

— Ulster County, $2.07 million to $3.61 million.

— Putnam County, $996,022.69 to $1.74 million.

mrandall@th-record.com

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