Only a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars available for drug abuse prevention, treatment and education on Long Island has been spent in the more than three years since a landmark settlement against opioid manufacturers and distributors, even as the epidemic continues to claim hundreds of lives annually. A lack of urgency to get opioid settlement funds into the hands of vendors, combined with bureaucratic red tape and a cumbersome grant reimbursement process, appears to have slowed the pace of distribution in both Nassau and Suffolk, according to some county legislative leaders and a budget watchdog. Since 2022, Nassau and Suffolk received a total of $213.5 million in opioid settlement funds and issued a collective $97.2 million in contracts and grants, largely to mental health and drug treatment providers, to battle the island’s addiction crisis. Link in bio for more information. . . . . . #longisland #longislandny #liny #longislandnewyork #newyorkers #nassaucounty #nas...