WHITE PLAINS – From 2010 through 2015, 334 people died in Westchester County opioids and the county Board of Legislators wants to change the rising tide.
The lawmakers are in the discussion process of joining a lawsuit by several counties against pharmaceutical manufacturers that produce prescription opioid painkillers. The county will allege those companies misrepresented the safety of those drugs.
Westchester will join the ranks of eight other New York counties that are suing big pharma – Dutchess, Rockland, Ulster, Orange, Nassau, Suffolk, Broome and Erie.
“Opioids and other addictive prescription drugs manufactured, distributed and widely dispenses in this country have caused devastating impacts on the health and safety of residents and are a financial drain on governments paying for public services to affected residents,” said Legislator Lyndon Williams of Mount Vernon, chairman of the Committee on Litigation. “The Westchester community is not immune from these impacts.”
