Nassau, Suffolk to get $228M in opioid settlements, state attorney general says

Nassau and Suffolk counties will receive up to $228 million combined in opioid lawsuit settlement funds that will be used for education, prevention and treatment to battle a scourge that has claimed the lives of thousands of Long Islanders in recent years, state Attorney General Letitia James said Monday.

The funds come after James filed a 2019 lawsuit against drug manufacturers and distributors. The majority of those cases have since been settled although a handful continue in the courts and the settlements are expected to grow.

"I know there is no dollar amount that can make up for what we've already lost," James said at a Hauppauge recovery and outreach center as she began a tour of the state where she will distribute up to $1.5 billion in settlement funds. "But I hope and pray each and every day these settlements will teach future corporate drug manufacturers to work in the public's interest and not line their pockets with profit."

Suffolk County will receive as much as $126 million while Nassau could get up to $102 million, James said. Final numbers, officials said, are still pending.

The lawsuit alleged that drug manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies created a "public nuisance" by fueling the opioid crisis, which has been linked to nearly 500,000 deaths in the United States over two decades.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said the crisis was the "result of a sophisticated effort by a slew of drug manufacturers, retailers, distributors and individuals who chose to put profits over people. These corporations and individuals needed to be held accountable."

The defendants contend illicit drug dealers, health regulators who encouraged opioid use and doctors who overprescribed painkillers are to blame.

After more than a decade of rising drug overdose deaths across Long Island, the region had appeared to turn the corner on the crisis, officials said. But the isolation and despair of the COVID-19 pandemic spurred a resurgence and 2020 was the deadliest year nationwide for opioid deaths, data shows.

"We saw so many people going down that spiral," said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. "And whether they were relapsing or anxious or depressed … this has brought on a more slow-motion health crisis."

Teri Kroll of Lindenhurst said the settlement money will not bring back her son, Timothy, who died of a heart attack in 2009 at the age of 23 after he got hooked on oxycodone and later graduated to heroin.

"But if this money can go toward treatment, education and prevention from infancy to adulthood," Kroll said, "how lucky are we."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.