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NY is Flush with Cash….But One-Time-Only Must be Only the Beginning
OMH Must Play Significant Role in Distribution of Drug Settlement Funding

In a complete turnaround from this time last year, ���������� has gone from the threat of major cuts to being billions of dollars in the black, if you count $5 billion in higher state revenues due to the rising economy and booming stock market, the $200 billion in COVID federal relief dollars and the $1.6 billion in settlement funds (the $1.1 billion announced below and another 500 million gained from other similar settlements.
HOWEVER, all of these funds are ‘one time only’, meaning that the funds are not permanent, annualized revenues that can fund, for example, permanent rate or salary hikes.

Several recommendations:

• Advocates, state legislators, state agencies and the Governor must commit to identifying ‘‘funds to follow’ to ensure ongoing annualized funding commitments, IMPERATIVELY in the area of workforce salaries and benefits.

• State law requiring the distribution of drug settlement funding makes a number of references to mental health, behavioral health, co-occurring conditions and the like. Accordingly, OMH must be at the table in how these funds are disbursed to ensure that an appropriate amount of these funds are used to bolster critically underfunded mental health related services and supports.

More in the coming days.  

Harvey Rosenthal, ����������

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Attorney General James Reaches $1.1 Billion Agreement with Big Three Distributors to Treat and Prevent Opioid Use in NYS
AG James Has Now Reached Agreements That Could Bring
More Than $1.6 Billion from Opioid Manufacturers, Distributors, and Consultants to NYS

Trial Against Remaining Three Opioid Manufacturers Continues in State Court

NEW YORK – ���������� Attorney General Letitia James today announced an agreement with McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., and Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation — three of the nation’s largest drug distributors — that will deliver up to $1.1 billion to ���������� state to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic. The $1.1 billion agreement is the largest monetary settlement ever negotiated by Attorney General James. The agreement resolves claims made by Attorney General James for the three companies’ role in helping to fuel the opioid epidemic and will remove the three distributors from ����������’s ongoing opioid trial, currently underway in Suffolk County State Supreme Court.

“For more than two decades, the opioid epidemic has wreaked havoc on countless communities throughout ���������� and across the rest of the nation, killing hundreds of thousands of our friends and family members and addicting millions more,” said Attorney General James. “And over the course of these past two decades, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen distributed these opioids without regard to the national crisis they were helping to fuel. But today, we’re holding them accountable and delivering more than $1 billion more into ���������� communities ravaged by opioids for treatment, recovery, and prevention efforts — bringing the statewide total our office has negotiated in the last month alone to more than $1.6 billion. While no amount of money will ever compensate for the millions of addictions, the hundreds of thousands of deaths, or the countless communities decimated by opioids, this money will be vital in preventing any future devastation.”

In March 2019, Attorney General James filed the nation’s most extensive lawsuit to hold accountable the various manufacturers and distributors responsible for the opioid epidemic. The manufacturers named in the complaint included Purdue Pharma and its affiliates, as well as members of the Sackler Family (owners of Purdue) and trusts they control; Janssen Pharmaceuticals and its affiliates (including its parent company Johnson & Johnson); Mallinckrodt LLC and its affiliates; Endo Health Solutions and its affiliates; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and its affiliates; and Allergan Finance, LLC and its affiliates. The distributors named in the complaint were McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation, and Rochester Drug Cooperative Inc.

The cases against Mallinckrodt and Rochester Drug Cooperative are now moving separately through U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The case against Purdue and the Sacklers is also moving through U.S. Bankruptcy Court, but, earlier this month, Attorney General James and a majority of states announced their approval of an agreement that would force the Sacklers and entities they control to pay more than $4.5 billion for opioid abatement, as well as shut down Purdue, and ban the Sacklers from ever selling opioids again. The agreement is pending court approval.

Additionally, late last month, Attorney General James announced an agreement with Johnson & Johnson that removed the company from ����������’s opioid trial in exchange for up to $230 million for the state’s opioid prevention and treatment efforts, as well as it ending the sale of opioids nationwide.

The trial against the three remaining defendants — Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, and Allergan Finance — is currently underway and will continue in state court.