Rockland County Executive Ed Day plansto suepharmaceutical companies linked to the growing death tollfrom opioid pain pills and heroin flooding into the Lower Hudson Valley.
Day disclosed the effort Monday as newly reported data on fatal overdoses show Rockland had 37 drug-related deaths in 2015, up 85 percent from 2010.
In addition, last yearthere were 40 drug-related deaths in Rockland, and 37 were opioid- and heroin-related, county officials said Monday.
"We are declaring war on opioids, heroin and other drugs that are stealing too many of our residents, particularly ouryoung people, and it is only getting worse," Day said.
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Rockland is seeking to join a trendof municipalities, including threein New York,suing drug makers for deceptive marketing in connection to the opioid epidemic ravaging the nation, with prescription pain pills killing more than 19,000 per year.
"If the corporations wish to take a path that is injurious to the people of this county, state and country, I certainly would welcome an effort to make sure that they understand that, when they do so, there will be something to pay back in order to fix the problem that they have contributed to so much," Day said.
Suffolk County led the way in filing the first lawsuit in New York against painkiller makers in 2016, followed this year by Broome and Erie counties that include the upstate cities of Binghamton and Buffalo, theUSA Today Network reported.
Rockland's drug crisis mirrors that of other communities in New York, where theranksgettinghooked on painkillers exploded over the past decade, leading many down the path to heroin, a chemically similar and cheaper street drug that Mexican cartelsare smuggling into the U.S. in record amounts.
Drug deaths have touched countless lives inRockland's diverse population of nearly 321,000, and new statewide data suggested the opioid epidemic has infiltrated all walks of life, from affluent New York City suburbs to poverty-stricken rural communities across upstate's rust-belt.
Westchester County, for example, had the third-highest percentage increase in drug deaths per 100,000, from 5.4 to 12,according to a report by The Rockefeller Institute of Government that analyzed data from 2010 to 2015.
Rockland's drug deaths per 100,000 spiked from 6.4 to 11.3, which is above the statewide average of 10.7, the data show. County officials have been in talks with several firms pursuing lawsuits against drug makers linked to the deaths and plan to take action this year, Day said, declining to discuss other details.
The hardest-hit communities were centered on the cityof Buffalo, where Erie County's drug-related death rate increased 256 percent, from 8.9 to 31.7 deaths per 100,000. In Onondaga County, which includes Syracuse,therate increased 145 percent,from 8.8 drug deathsto 21.6.
Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe on Monday spoke of legal debates surrounding the rise of opioid addiction afterpharmaceutical giants launchedmarketing campaigns in the 1990s.
"So how did the most advanced country on the planetdevelop this problem like no other part of the entire planet?" Zugibe asked rhetorically,"Well,you can thank in large part profit motives that got us here, like many of the drug dealingthat you see on an ongoing basis."
The U.S. represents5 percent of the world population and uses almost 90-percent of the prescription opioids, Zugibe said, attributing the statistic to Purdue Pharma and other drug makers involved in urging doctors to prescribe more painkillers.
"It was nonsense and all untrue, but doctors drank the Kool-Aid and accepted it," Zugibe said, "and within a 10-year period after the marketing effort started, prescriptionsincreased four-fold and during thatsame period of time we saw a three-fold increase in overdose deaths across the country."
The opioid lawsuits in New York allegemultiple companies, including Purdue Pharma L.P. and Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., engaged in "deceptive acts and practices, false advertising, public nuisance, violation of New York Social Services laws, fraud and unjust enrichment," USA Today Network reported.
Opioid manufacturers may be facing more legal battles. In late 2015, the City of Chicago sued six pharmaceutical companies, claiming they overstated the drugs' benefits and failed to properly disclose their risks.
In 2007, Purdue agreed to a $19.5 million settlement with 26 states. It pleaded guilty that same year in a federal case that resulted in $600 million in fines and fees. In 2015, it settled a case with the state of Kentucky for $24 million.
During the news conference Monday, Day and other Rocklandofficials credited increaseduse ofopioid-antidotes, such as naloxone, with saving dozens of lives.
Last year, Rockland police and paramedics administered naloxone54 times.The youngest was 19 andoldest was 70. Most cases were in their 20s, andmost patients were revived.
Strikingly, antidote use this year is outpacing last year, with 25 uses in the first 11 weeks. County agencies are planning to distribute Narcan naloxone kits to the public at upcoming training sessions, Day said, calling on residents to register for the free serviceat the county website.
"This is not another person’s problem, another families' problem, it is a problem for us all," Day said. "No family, regardless of social status and economic situation is immune;that is a cold hard fact that we have seen over and overagain."
