The Albany County Legislature passed a resolution Monday night unanimously, backing the actions of the county attorney and County Executive Dan McCoy.
McCoy says the county has joined a lawsuit aiming to recover current and future damages to county taxpayers from abuse of opioid pharmaceuticals. It alleges drug manufactures do not tell patients how addictive their medications can be, leading to thousands of overdose deaths in the state.
Albany County officials say between July 2015 and September 2016, there have been 40 opioid overdose deaths, 150 emergency department visits and 45 hospitalizations.
County officials say the lawsuit will be at no cost to taxpayers.
Albany County is joining approximately 10 other counties around the state in this lawsuit. The law firm leading the suit is Motley Rice, which has previous experience filing suit against tobacco companies.