ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation on Friday to ensure that billions in opioid settlement money gets spent on addiction treatment, prevention, and recovery efforts. Effective immediately, bill S6757/A8459 closes a technical loophole in the state's Mental Hygiene Law that could have diverted that money into the state's general fund.

Attorney General Letitia James secured over $3 billion from companies that fueled the opioid crisis, and this law applies not just to those funds, but to any future agreements, too. The law dedicates a major portion of one such settlement for the to the Opioid Settlement Fund, keeping up to $250 million earmarked that came from Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family.

The state's Opioid Settlement Fund, managed by the Compt

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