HHS Offers New Funding to Combat Overdose Epidemic

The Biden administration has allocated $25.6 million to give entities combating the overdose epidemic medication-assisted treatments, Health Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told McClatchy Newspapers. The grants aim to make medication-assisted treatment more widely available for opioid-use disorder and prescription drug misuse. Grants will be available through two new programs under the department’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration division. “Every five minutes someone in our nation dies from an overdose,” Becerra said. “This is unacceptable.” More than 104,000 Americans died of overdoses in the year ending in September 2021, according to the National Center for Health Statistics — the most in one year on record and a jump of almost 30 percent from the previous 12-month span. Synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, caused two-thirds of those deaths.

The Strategic Prevention Framework for Prescription Drugs, SPF Rx, and Medication-Assisted Treatment - Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction, MAT-PDOA — are open to applicants until April 25 and April 29, respectively. SPF Rx will fund six grantees $3 million over five years to raise awareness about the dangers of sharing medications, counterfeit pills and over-prescribing. MAT-PDOA will increase and expand access to medications for opioid use disorders to help decrease both illicit and prescription opioid misuse. Thirty grantees will receive a portion of $22.6 million over five years, at least $11 million of which will go to Native American tribes or tribal organizations. “This funding will enhance efforts underway throughout our nation to get help to Americans who need it,” said Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, who leads SAMHSA. “Expanding access to evidence-based treatments and supports for individuals struggling with opioid use disorder has never been more critical.”