Families of opioid victims demand Nassau County do more with settlement money

Nassau County called to do more with opioid settlement

The families of drug overdose victims on Long Island are accusing the Nassau County government of failing to distribute more than $92M that they received as part of opioid settlements.

LONG ISLAND - Families of drug overdose victims on Long Island are accusing the Nassau County government of failing to distribute over $92M that they received as part of opioid settlements.

The money is supposed to go to overdose treatment and prevention programs.

On Monday, Corinne Kaufman and several legislators filed legislation that would require Nassau County to include fentanyl-detecting strips in every Narcan kit.

The legislation is personal for Kaufman, who lost her 19-year-old daughter, Paige, to an opioid overdose after taking what she thought was a Percocet pill, but turned out to be 100% fentanyl.

"I just say if it happened to Paige it could happen to anyone at any time," Kaufman said.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman says he's distributing $15 million per year for the next four years. He says fentanyl test strips are already available through the County and online through the state.

"We’re seeing an increasing rate of Long Islanders and New Yorkers dying in the community each day, so the sooner we can get these funds out to the community the better it will be," said Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, who is the president of Family & Children’s Association.