With the number of deaths from opioids in New York state continuing to rise even as the state spends millions of dollars of settlement cash to curb opioid abuse, advocates for people with addiction and those in recovery are pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul to issue an opioid public health state of emergency. 

According to Robert Kent, former general counsel for the Biden administration’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, fentanyl has “changed the ballgame."

You can read Kent’s commentary on the issue here.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports nationally that 111,355 people have died in the U.S. from opioids between April 2022 to April 2023.

“We 'celebrated.' I put that in quotes, in Washington that we’d leveled off at 111,000 per year,” Kent told Capital Tonight. 

While nationally there has been a leveling off of opioid deaths, that has not been the case in New York state.

Kent, who prior to serving in Washington was general counsel for the New York state Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS), said when he left New York in 2020, the number of opioid deaths was in "the 3,000 range."

Kent said deaths in New York state from opioids are now at 7,000 people per year and rising at a rate of 10% per year.

“The biggest impact now is in communities of color,” Kent said. “We’re not seeing the results.”

Kent is recommending that Hochul create an opioid public health emergency, which would waive insurance co-pays and deductibles for New Yorkers attempting to access treatment; waive application fees for counselors who want to work in the addiction service system; and speed up the distribution of opioid settlement funds, among other changes. 

“The drugs are lethal. It only takes one time and people are dying left and right. And it’s not just people who use drugs regularly,” Kent said. “It’s kids who buy pills in the dark web, and Snapchat and think they’re buying Ritalin. It’s fentanyl. Fentanyl is in every pill you buy from other than a pharmacist.”