Addiction Services and Supports, Office of

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Agency Web Site: https://www.oasas.ny.gov/

Mission

The mission of the Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) is to improve the lives of New Yorkers by leading a comprehensive, system of addiction services for prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery.

Organization and Staffing

OASAS is responsible for planning, developing, and regulating the State's system of substance use disorder (SUD) and gambling treatment and prevention programs. The agency has a Central Office in Albany, and directly operates twelve Addiction Treatment Centers (ATCs). OASAS also certifies, funds, and supervises over 1,700 local government and community-based programs. The Executive Budget recommends a workforce of 778 FTEs for OASAS, unchanged from FY 2024.

Budget Highlights

The FY 2025 Executive Budget provides $1.2 billion in All Funds appropriations, a net decrease of $179.4 million from FY 2024, primarily attributable to lower anticipated deposits into the Opioid Settlement Fund.

Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, OASAS is taking significant steps to address the opioid crisis by improving access to addiction services, removing barriers to treatment, developing new and innovative treatment models, and incorporating life-saving harm reduction principles throughout New York State's network of community-based providers.

The Executive Budget continues the historic investments made in FY 2023, which included significant increases in operating and capital support for addiction prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery programs which serve people with addiction throughout the State, their families, and their communities.

The Executive Budget sustains New York State’s commitment to critical initiatives, including:

• Address the Overdose Epidemic Using a Patient Centered Approach. OASAS will continue to oversee one of the nation’s largest substance use disorder systems of care with approximately 1,700 prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery programs serving over 731,000 individuals per year. As the State’s opioid treatment authority, OASAS will continue to coordinate State-federal relations in addiction services and increase evidence-based practices proven to support individuals contemplating or new to recovery and prevent overdoses. At Governor Hochul's direction, OASAS' Division of Harm Reduction has made access to life-saving medication and supplies simple and affordable.

• Opioid Settlement Fund Investments. Since 2021, the State of New York has reached settlement agreements with and recieved payments from opioid manufacturers and distributors. Through these agreements, the State and local municipalities are expected to receive more than $2 billion through 2040. Over $480 million in payments related to those settlement agreements will have been deposited in the State's Opioid Settlement Fund through FY 2025. These funds are being used to support addiction programming and services throughout the State. OASAS, as the lead agency and administrator of the fund, is colloborating with other State agencies including DOH and OMH to develop strategies and initiatives to provide individuals the care and support they need. The State is being guided by the Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board, which is charged with making recommendations on the allocation of these funds. The Board issued its annual report on November 1, 2023.

• Opioid Stewardship Investments. The FY 2023 Enacted Budget appropriated $200 million to invest monies owed to the State retroactive to 2017 and 2018, after the Opioid Stewardship Act was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Executive Budget reappropriates these funds, which are reduced to reflect lower than anticipated reciepts. During FY 2025, OASAS will continue using Opioid Stewardship Funds, in collaboration with DOH, to pursue a number of harm reduction initiatives, including medication and treatment affordability programs, a grant program to establish 15 community-based harm reduction programs throughout the State, and the development of a harm reduction training program for personnel from law enforcement agencies, correctional facilities, and the court system.

• Support Recovery Community Centers. The FY 2025 Executive Budget provides $5 million to support existing recovery community centers, which are currently funded by federal grants expiring in October. These State resources will ensure that people have peer support from these programs that are proven effective in helping people start and sustain their recovery from addiction.

For more information on this agency's budget recommendations located in the Executive Budget Briefing Book, click on the following link:

Briefing Book – Mental Hygiene (PDF)

Program Highlights

New York State has one of the nation's largest addiction services systems. OASAS offers a wide range of services, which fall into the following four main categories:

• Prevention: Prevention services seek to prevent substance use and abuse and compulsive gambling in individuals, families and communities. Prevention services include education, environmental strategies, community capacity building, positive alternatives, and information dissemination. These services are delivered by a network of providers in a variety of settings, including schools and community-based organizations;

• Treatment: Treatment programs consist of various clinically appropriate services, including engagement, crisis, residential, outpatient and opioid treatment programs (OTPs), for individuals with problem gambling or SUDs. Treatment includes individual and group counseling, Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), educational services, case management, vocational assessment, and training for job skills, employment readiness, parenting, personal, and social and community living skills;

• Harm Reduction: Harm reduction saves lives and decreases potential harms associated with substance use. Tools and strategies that reduce harms include: naloxone and naloxone training; syringe services programs; access to fentanyl test strips; overdose prevention centers; removal of stigma and barriers to treatment and to medications for treatment; medication disposal bags; increased public awareness and education; and grassroots work by peers, recovery supports, and prevention coalitions;

• Recovery: Recovery programs assist individuals in recovery with emotional, informational, and social support services to help initiate and sustain recovery from SUDs, and provide support to family members. Services are provided through Recovery Community and Outreach Centers, Youth Clubhouses, and Permanent Supportive Housing.

Note: Most recent estimates as of 01/16/2024