UTICA, N.Y. – Oneida County was one of six communities in the country to receive a $600,000 grant to use for opioid prevention, recovery and treatment efforts.

The Oneida County Opioid Task Force held a summit at SUNY Polytechnic Institute on Wednesday to discuss plans for the grant money.

While the county matched the grant, totaling $1.2 million for the task force, Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente says the combined cost of combatting drug addiction is much higher.

“When you total in all these departments that are involved, just on the county end, not counting private and not-for-profit agencies that do this, you're talking in the millions. Probably $30-40 million if not more all total of what's being spent on this just in this county alone,” said Picente.

The grant money came from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support data-driven responses to the opioid crisis.