Orleans accepts $120K in opioid settlement funds and contracts with UConnect Care

ALBION – Orleans County has accepted $120,000 from the state for fiscal year 2023, and is using those funds from the opioid settlement to contract with UConnect Care (formerly GCASA).

The County Legislature last week approved accepting the funds and then an agreement with UConnect for treatment and prevention services.

The Legislature last week also approved transferring $5,000 in opioid settlement funds from the Mental Health Department to Suicide Prevention Coalition.

The money for Orleans comes from the more than $2 billion secured by the state from companies involved in manufacturing, distributing and selling opioids.

Gov. Kathy Hochul last week said $192 million of those funds have been allocated state-wide in the first year of the settlement.

She said the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports and Department of Health has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to support a full continuum of prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery services designed to increase access to help and support in every area of the state.

“I know how devastating it is watching a loved one navigate addiction, and how important it is to expand and enhance these services so that everyone is able to access the help and support they need,” Hochul said. “We are distributing historic amounts of funding to address this crisis, including through the opioid settlement fund, which is allowing us to hold opioid manufacturers and distributors responsible for the role they have played in this crisis.”

There were 6,300 overdose deaths in the state in 2022, with opioids involved in more than three-quarters of those deaths, Hochul’s office said.

OASAS Commissioner Dr. Chinazo Cunningham said, “We remain in the worst overdose crisis ever, and New York State is taking decisive, concrete steps to help individuals, families, and communities that have been impacted.”