REMARKS
Council Member Lynn Schulman discusses the use of opioid settlement funds
0:08:27
ยท
3 min
Council Member Lynn Schulman, chair of the Committee on Health, provides remarks on how New York City is utilizing opioid settlement funds to address the opioid crisis. She focuses on the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner's (OCME) use of these funds and the city's plans to combat opioid addiction.
- Highlights the Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group program, which has served 1300 individuals since late 2022
- Discusses the plan to invest $4 million annually in OCME to improve services and reduce turnaround times
- Mentions the city's goal to reduce opioid deaths by 25% as part of the Healthy NYC initiative
Lynn Schulman
0:08:27
Thank you, chairs Lee and Narcisse, for holding today's critical hearing on the opioid settlement fund.
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I'm Lynn Shulman, chair of the Committee on Health.
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My thanks to the chairs for including me here in my capacity as health committee chair to discuss how opioid settlement funds are being used by the city to address and reduce the harms caused by the opioid crisis.
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I am particularly interested in how the office of the chief medical examiner or OCME is utilizing these funds, and I look forward to learning more from o from OCME about this today.
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In September 2024, the mayor announced the administration's plans for applying $50,000,000 in funding annually by fiscal year 2027 to combat the opioid addiction crisis New York has continued to face.
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These plans include an annual $4,000,000 investment in OCME.
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An initial investment stemming from the opioid settlement fund supports the Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group, which offers tailored support for the families of drug overdose decedents by connecting them to critical mental health and social support services in the crucial window following an overdose death.
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The drug intelligence and intervention group program, which was launched within OCME in late 2022, has served 1300 individuals as of September 2024.
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This program is comprised of trained social workers and public health professionals and has offered support to surviving family members and close contacts as they cope with pressing needs in the wake of the overdose deaths of loved ones.
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OCME reports that program participants have accepted a wide range of services, including grief and bereavement support, mental health and substance use counseling, health care and housing support.
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OSF funds will also support the hiring of additional scientists and support staff at OCME, and will provide new equipment and physical upgrades to the forensic toxicology laboratory and allow for information technology improvements.
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OCME's stated goal with this funding is to reduce turnaround times by half by September 2025 to expedite answers for grieving families and data to partners in the public health system.
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These investments build on the city's work to reduce opioid deaths by 25% as part of Healthy NYC.
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The city's plan to extend the average lifespan of all New Yorkers to 83 years of age by 2,030.
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I am deeply proud to have sponsored the legislation that codified Healthy NYC, and I remain committed to ensuring that DOHMH and OCME have the resources and tools they need to reach the healthy NYC goals and address the harms of the opioid addiction crisis.
0:10:59
Through collaboration and transparency, we can ensure that these funds are strategically allocated towards programs and services that deliver much needed relief for our communities.
0:11:09
In closing, I wanna thank my staff and the committee staff for their work on this hearing.
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And I wanna thank the representatives in the administration for being here today.
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And I also wanna give a shout out to Menor Butt, who has been selected to be on the speakers, on the city council's rather, Charter revision commission as staff.
0:11:26
And I really appreciate all the work that she's done, for me as committee chair of health.
0:11:31
I will now pass the mic back to Chair Lee.