On Sept. 15, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced his administration’s initial grant awards from a pool of approximately $70.5 million in opioid settlement funds received to date.
He also revealed his administration’s plans to issue a Request for Expressions of Interest for agencies seeking funding to provide addiction prevention, treatment and/or recovery services.
Following today’s announcement, County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove), ranking member of the Legislature’s Health & Social Services Committee, issued the following statement:
“To date, Nassau County has received approximately $70 million in settlement dollars from the nation’s largest opioid drug manufacturers and distributors,” she said. “I am so glad that these opioid companies are finally being held responsible for what they have done to our families and especially our youth.”
“Today’s announcement marks a step forward in the deployment of these resources, but it is unfortunate that it took nearly five months to reach this point,” said DeRiggi-Whitton. “While I fully understand the importance of proceeding cautiously, the enormity of the opioid addiction crisis demands an aggressive, bipartisan and collaborative response that gets the bulk of this money into the hands of Nassau County’s trusted partners in prevention, treatment and recovery as quickly as possible.”