CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) — The commissioner of the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports visited Cheektowaga on Thursday to hear from Western New York's recovery community.
Dr. Chinazo Cunningham discussed the dramatic decrease in overdose deaths over the last four years, but heard significant concerns from the crowd about how the state's $111 million opioid settlement with drug makers is being spent, especially from small boots-on-the-ground outreach organizations.
Stacy Schwab of Midnight Marauding Mamas pushed back on the framing around the overdose death statistics.
"Do you realize that there are still people overdosing? That 43% decrease is because of the boots on the ground work being done," Schwab said.
Chris Harzynski, CEO and president of Creative Restorations, Inc., raised questions about how settlement funds have been used locally.
"How does it make you feel when you hear that the City of Buffalo has used thousands of dollars for lawn mowers, snowblowers?" Harzynski asked.
One Buffalo mother in attendance asked the commissioner directly about intervention efforts.
"What can OASAS do to partner with local law enforcement, community organizations and us parents to intervene before our children become too addicted or they're dead?" she said.
Cunningham acknowledged the concerns and suggested the feedback needed to reach other officials.
"I do think that comments like this are really important for the Attorney General's office to hear, for legislators to hear, so that perhaps the law gets changed. Right?" Cunningham asked.
Cunningham spoke to me after the two-hour listening meeting.
"I appreciate hearing directly from the community about what the needs are," Cunningham said. "Housing is certainly a big issue that we're investing in; transportation is a barrier," Cunningham said.
WATCH: New York State addiction commissioner visits Western New York to hear from recovery community
When pressed on whether the state is auditing how the City of Buffalo is spending opioid settlement funds, Cunningham said audits are underway but could not confirm specifics.
"We're certainly doing audits so that if there are any problems with that, we should be able to see that in audits. Are you auditing the City of Buffalo's expenditures? We're in the middle of, I want to say 17 different audits right now, so I'm not, I, I don't know exactly which entities we're auditing," Cunningham said.
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