By 2038 Erie County is scheduled to receive more than $63.2 million in settlement funds as a result of the county’s lawsuit against major pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors in compensation for the county’s costs of responding to the opioid epidemic, and from funds secured by the NYS Attorney General in a related settlement. Pending the Erie County legislature’s authorization, the settlements with Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc, McKesson Corporation, Endo Health Solutions, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Allergan, and their related corporations, will provide funding of $19.2 million this year alone to support numerous initiatives to combat the opioid epidemic.

“In 2016 I declared the opioid epidemic a public health crisis and I created the Erie County Opioid Epidemic Task Force as opioid-related deaths surged in our community, tragically reaching 301 that year. Since that time annual deaths have decreased. However, despite the good work of the Task Force, the scourge of opioids is constant and continues to take a toll on our community,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “Erie County experienced thousands of deaths and incalculable harm as a result of irresponsible practices from the pharmaceutical industry and with this settlement we will be using funds from the very companies that profited from this pain to help heal our community and prevent further tragedies.”

“In 2017, the County Attorney’s Office commenced litigation against multiple entities and individuals for their roles in exacerbating the opioid epidemic. Additionally, Attorney General Letitia James filed a similar suit in 2019 against many of the same entities,” said Acting County Attorney Jeremy Toth. “Funds from this settlement obtained as compensation for the County’s past response costs are unrestricted, and the majority of the settlement funds to be received must be used specifically for fighting opioid abuse. Due to the hard work of our staff and the Office of the Attorney General, a significant amount of resources is now available to address this public health crisis.”

Between 2012 and 2021 there were more than 2,000 opioid-related deaths in Erie County. Following the creation of the Task Force in 2016, Erie County experienced a nearly fifty per cent decrease in deaths between 2016-19; however, the pandemic reversed that progress and the county saw a significant increase in deaths in 2020-21. Erie County joined numerous other counties in a lawsuit brought against opioid drug manufacturers and distributors in 2017 and New York state filed its own lawsuit in 2019. These lawsuits were settled at the end of 2021 and earlier this year, with the result that Erie County will receive a total of $63,235,507.34 from the settlement, with $36,950,083.66 of that amount restricted to specific opioid epidemic-related activities. The allowed uses for the funding include treatment programs, prevention programs, and other epidemic-related strategies.

“Our community has suffered many heartbreaking losses during the opioid epidemic,” said Commissioner of Social Services Marie A. Cannon.  “This settlement provides the opportunity to begin to address these injustices by providing a pathway to gainful employment and an independent future.  Our programs will use these funds to provide recovering individuals with the wrap around support services needed to address their employment needs and rebuild their lives economically and emotionally.  In addition, funds will be put towards a full-time legal position dedicated to ensuring that families facing addiction get the services they need to stay together.”

“This funding will not erase the pain, grief and deep sense of loss felt by families in our community who have experienced the death of a loved one from an overdose,” said Commissioner of Health Dr. Burstein. “What this funding will do is give county departments and our community partners new tools and resources to prevent overdoses and opioid-related overdose deaths, which are the goals of all our harm reduction interventions. On behalf of our Opiate Epidemic Task Force and ECDOH staff, we are ready to begin this next phase of our response, using data-driven, evidence-based tactics to address this chronic disease of the brain.”

The settlement funding will also allow Erie County to create ten positions and transfer nine current positions from expiring grants. All positions will be funded using restricted funds and must perform work relating to combatting the opioid epidemic; these positions will be in the departments of Health, Probation, and Social Services. Employees working under the soon-to-expire grants would see their positions deleted without this new funding source to extend those programs, which include the Opioid Response Initiative; Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program; Naloxone Expansion and Emergency Department Care Coordination; and County Hub and Spoke Empowerment.

Erie County Commissioner of Probation Michelle Olszowy added, “Through this settlement funding the Erie County Probation Department will be able to maintain a Probation Officer dedicated to working exclusively with individuals court-ordered to probation supervision who are struggling with opioid use.  In addition, being able to not only maintain but expand our Peer Navigators who are uniquely equipped with lived experience is instrumental.  Our department’s goal through this initiative is to save lives and our ability to provide these specialized services to individuals we supervise in the community is saving lives.” 

The county departments of Health, Mental Health, Probation and Social Services have identified several initiatives to use these funds to combat the opioid crisis, including:

• $6 million in funding to issue an open Request-for-Proposals to solicit community-driven initiatives to combat the opioid epidemic. Members of the Task Force will help to score the proposals. 
• $1.08 million in funding to supplement the Office of Addiction Services and Supports (“OASAS”) funding to local substance use disorder service providers. These providers have not been able to afford the increasing wages needed to attract and retain workers in this job market, and this initiative would provide a 10% supplement (or $20,000, whichever is more) to Erie County substance use disorder service providers who receive OASAS funding so that they can afford to increase employees’ wages.
• The Erie County Department of Health (“ECDOH”) will conduct a multi-year anti-opioid media campaign to tell the stories of people whose lives were impacted by opioids. The goals of this $1 million initiative are to increase awareness that prescription opioids can be addictive and dangerous, to reinforce that help is available for those suffering from an opioid use disorder, and to encourage those struggling with prescription opioids to visit the campaign website to locate help and resources.

• Erie County will procure and distribute Harm Reduction supplies, including naloxone (Narcan) for the community. This $500,000 initiative allocates $250,000 to ECDOH to continue to purchase and distribute Narcan, $150,000 for Correctional Health to buy and distribute harm reduction supplies to released prisoners, and $100,000 to ECDOH to purchase harm reduction supplies to be distributed by Task Force members to individuals with a substance use disorder.

Among other identified initiatives are a PeacePrints Re-Entry Program to annually assist 200 individuals with substance use disorders being released from incarceration to access supports necessary to re-enter the community; a Mobile Narcotic Treatment Program that will allocate $345,000 in start-up funds to two agencies (BestSelf Behavioral Health and Promesa, Inc.) planning on creating Mobile Narcotic Treatment programs; an expansion of housing programs, in partnership with Rebecca Rose Recovery House of WNY and Group Ministries, for individuals with substance use disorders, and more. 

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