Schoharie County has received the first installment of an expected $470,000 in Opioid Settlement monies--$132,833—not much, supervisors said, especially when considered in light of the fact that the money will come over the next 18 years.
The money is to be used to mitigate opioid addiction problems and comes from a legal settlement joined by New York State against major pharmaceutical companies including Johnson & Johnson and Purdue, McKesson, Cardinal Health Inc. and Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation.
New York’s share of the settlement is $1.1 billion.
The money must be used to treat and prevent opioid addiction and overdose deaths and the state is in the process of developing guidelines for its use and for required reporting.
Supervisors have agreed to allow the Office of Community Services, which provided drug treatment services locally, to oversee the distribution of the settlement funds to other departments and agencies.
According to statistics reported to the state, in 2021, the county had nine deaths from opioid overdoses and seven from heroin.
In 2021 the state also reported 16 visits to emergency rooms, 95 admissions to OASAS-certified treatment programs, and 17 reports of Naloxone or Narcan administered by EMS and police, all in Schoharie County.
The latest figures available from the Schoharie County Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse recorded 35 suspected opioid overdoses from January 1-November 21, 2022; Naloxone was administered 19 times.
In nearby counties, those figures for the same time period were, Delaware—30/12; Otsego—44/24; and Montgomery—56/47.