Settlement money must be used for treatment and prevention 

Dutchess County will receive between $3.7 million and $6.4 million, and Putnam County between $1 million and $1.7 million, from New York State’s settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors, Attorney General Letitia James said on Monday (Oct. 4). 

New York is one of the states and municipalities that sued drug companies and distributers, blaming them for flooding the U.S. with prescription painkillers and fueling a rise in overdoses and deaths. 

The attorney general’s office filed its lawsuit in 2019 against Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and other drug companies, as well as distributers such as McKesson and Amerisource Bergen. 

The state will receive $1.5 billion to distribute to counties for treatment, recovery and prevention programs. A state law enacted in June by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo prevents the Legislature from diverting the funds for other uses.

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Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Leonard Sparks has been reporting for The Current since 2020. The Peekskill resident holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Morgan State University and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland and previously covered Sullivan County and Newburgh for The Times Herald-Record in Middletown. He can be reached at [email protected].

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Fern Sartori

Money, that’s great, wonderful, fantastic, hooray and all that jazz! However, I don’t understand why the drug cartels, street pushers and the like are arrested for pushing drugs, yet the big pharmas are simply billed? Can someone explain this to me? Seriously, am simply dumbfounded, duh?

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