NEW CITY - In an effort to recoup costs related to the opioid epidemic, Rockland County will engage a law firm to seek money from pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the narcotics, officials said Tuesday.

"We're holding all those responsible for this serious epidemic," County Executive Ed Day said at a news conference to announce the initiative. "We're up against the tide, holding on. The taxpayers have been shouldering the burden for this scourge."

County officials expect taxpayers to benefit from any award or settlement. While no taxpayer money will be expended, the county will put up a $100,000 contingency fee to get the contract approved under county law, officials said. A contract with the firm has been sent to the county Legislature for approval.

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Day said a significant body of evidence exists that drug makers use deceptive marketing of their brand-name opioids — which include OxyContin and Percocet — to entice people, including young patients, to use highly addictive painkillers.

Simmons Hanly Conroy would investigate the viability of suing the pharmaceutical companies. The law firm represents several New York counties, including Suffolk, Orange, Dutchess and Sullivan. Any Rockland litigation likely would be merged with a larger lawsuit involving other New York counties.

Day said 37 of 40 overdose deaths in 2016 in Rockland were from opioids. In 2017, 16 of 18 overdose deaths were due to opioids, he said, noting that police and emergency responders have saved 54 lives using the anti-opioid nasal spray Naloxone.

Day said a 2016 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that $78.5 billion is spent annually on the drug epidemic across the nation, with a quarter of that amount paid by government programs funded by taxpayers. He said Rockland taxpayers pay millions of dollars for drug-related policing and treatment.

County Mental Health Commissioner Michael Leitzes said more than 600 people were in drug-treatment programs over the past two years.

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County Attorney Thomas Humbach estimated Rockland would receive 60 percent to 90 percent of any settlement. He also said there was no time frame for a Rockland lawsuit.

Westchester County hasn’t opted in yet as a bill to authorize the county to join the lawsuit is set to be discussed by legislative committees.

Suffolk led the way in filing the first lawsuit in New York against painkiller-makers in 2016, followed this year by upstate counties that include the cities of Binghamton and Buffalo, the USA Today Network reported.

Humbach said the law firm would determine which pharmaceutical companies could be held liable, potentially some in Rockland.

Simmons Hanly Conroy, founded in 1999, has forged a national reputation for handling toxic exposure cases, including asbestos and mesothelioma, securing a $250 million verdict against U.S. Steel.

Among the targeted drug-makers are Purdue Pharma and related companies, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions and Endo Pharmaceuticals.

Day said the law firm resolved litigation against Purdue Pharma for $19.5 million alleging 5,000 clients’ addictions to Oxycontin resulted from the manufacturer’s fraudulent marketing campaign that claimed the drug was not as addictive as alternative drugs.

Twitter: @lohudlegal