(MINEOLA, N.Y.) – The Nassau County Legislature voted on Monday, Dec. 16 to accept $1.185 million in new opioid settlement funds – but questions continue to linger regarding the Blakeman administration’s sluggish distribution of the nearly $100 million in settlement funds it has already received to agencies on the front lines of responding to the opioid crisis.
Nassau County agreed to accept $500,000 from Shop-Rite Supermarkets; $600,000 from Target, Inc. and $85,000 from Henry Schein, Inc. as part of larger settlements stemming from class-action they joined against opioid drug manufacturers, sellers, and distributors. Upon receipt, the funds will be placed into a dedicated fund for agencies that provide addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery resources across Nassau County.
However, Nassau County Legislature Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D – Glen Cove) and community advocates continue to have serious concerns about how long it will take for these new resources to be deployed.
For more than a year, Minority Leader DeRiggi-Whitton has implored the Blakeman administration to make the expeditious distribution of opioid settlement funds a top priority. Instead, the Blakeman administration has distributed just $3.01 million – or 3.15 percent of the approximately $95.5 million received to date – despite a four-year plan released in May 2023 that pledged the release of $60 million to agencies over that time.
“While national trends are showing some level of reduction in the number of opioid overdose deaths, the Blakeman administration’s persistent failure to effectively distribute these crucial settlement funds is unacceptable,” Minority Leader DeRiggi-Whitton said. “While I am gratified that the County is receiving this new influx of resources, we must use this vote as a catalyst for finally getting these funds out of the County’s bank accounts and where they belong – in the hands of trusted agencies that are doing the work to save lives from this scourge.”
The Legislature also heard directly from a woman whose family has suffered the devastation wrought by the ongoing opioid and fentanyl crisis. Corinne Kaufman’s granddaughter, Paige Gibbons, died on Nov. 20, 2022 – just four days after her 19th birthday – after she consumed a small piece of what she thought was a Percocet pill at a sleepover with friends. It turned out to be entirely fentanyl, and she died later that night.
In the aftermath of Paige’s tragic death, Kaufman has launched the Families Against Fentanyl campaign and is advocating for Narcan kits to be available in every middle and high school nurse’s office on Long Island. She is also urging Nassau County to distribute fentanyl test strips by bundling them with Narcan kits and distributing them directly to all who seek them; she furthermore wants to increase awareness about fentanyl through campaigns in public schools and by asking the media to regularly publish fentanyl overdose death statistics.
The Democratic Minority filed the “Families Against Fentanyl Act” in February - a resolution that would require inclusion of fentanyl-detecting test strips in Narcan kits distributed by Nassau County agencies. To date, the Republican Majority has not calendared the item.
“It is discouraging not to see settlement funds used for strong, proactive programs yet,” Kaufman said. “We are seeing the slow drip of settlement funds when you really need those funds to be working to prevent these disasters. You all hold such great power in your hands to save lives by expediting these funds. It’s time to save lives now.”
PHOTO CREDIT – Photo by Peter M. Budraitis