As States Are Just Starting To Get A Grip On Opioid Crisis Billions In Federal Grants Are Scheduled To Dry Up
The Trump administration has not spoken about whether it will add more funds to the fight. The grants have been especially crucial in Republican-led states that decided not to expand Medicaid. “When we first heard the money was coming, I remember thinking, ‘Wow, that’s a lot,’” said Nora Bock, who helps oversee addiction treatment programs for the Missouri Department of Mental Health. “Now it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s nowhere near enough.’” News on the crisis comes out of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma as well.
The New York Times:
States Are Making Progress On Opioids. Now The Money That’s Helping Them May Dry Up
Bryan Garner was homeless and injecting as much fentanyl as he could get his hands on when he found the Missouri Network Outreach Center, a community center in an old brick rowhouse in St. Louis that connects people to addiction treatment. Mr. Garner, 51, accepted the center’s offer of assistance and has not used any illegal drugs since January. “I really feel like, without this place, I wouldn’t be here now,” he said. But how long the center will survive — and how long Mr. Garner will be able to get free treatment — is in question. The center exists thanks to $3.3 billion in opioid crisis grants, approved with strong bipartisan support, that the Trump administration and Congress have allotted to states since 2017, when a record 47,600 Americans died from overdoses involving opioids. The money for treatment, prevention and recovery is the administration’s most tangible contribution to addressing the opioid epidemic, and a rare example of an initiative that has received almost full bipartisan support in Washington during President Trump’s tenure. (Goodnough, 7/16)
Boston Globe:
Major Mass. Hospitals Pledge To Train Doctors In Addiction Care
A new consortium of 12 Boston and Cambridge hospitals has pledged to educate their physicians about opioid addiction and to improve support for employees struggling with substance use problems. The hospitals’ commitments were announced Tuesday, simultaneously with the results of a new survey showing that many health-care providers in Massachusetts feel ill-prepared to care for people suffering from addiction and harbor misconceptions about the illness and its treatment. (Freyer, 7/16)
NH Times Union:
Hudson Creating Wrap-Around Program To Help Families Affected By Addiction Crisis
Community leaders in Hudson are working to create a new wrap-around program to help kids and relatives impacted by the opioid epidemic, with hopes to launch before the next school year. Selectman David Morin said he brought the group of school and town officials and community volunteers together initially in April to address what he and other town officials saw as a rise in children orphaned by overdoses, or left in the care of relatives because their parents are struggling with a substance use disorder or are incarcerated for drug-related offenses. (Lessard, 7/16)
Concord (N.H.) Monitor:
Law Will Require N.H. Pharmacists To Label Opioids, Hand Out Pamphlets Detailing Risks
Starting next year, pharmacies in New Hampshire will be required to place orange stickers on the cap of opioid prescription bottles that says “OPIOID” and a warning label that says “Risk of addiction and overdose,” and hand out informational flyers warning of the risks of addiction, as a result of legislation that was signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu last week. It’s a part of an initiative led by advocates and medical professionals to better inform users of opioid painkiller about the long-term harm they can inflict. (Willingham, 7/16)
Kaiser Health News:
Listen: Opioid Trial In Oklahoma Wraps Up
Did drugmaker Johnson & Johnson create a “public nuisance” that led to the opioid epidemic? That’s the question a state judge in Oklahoma is weighing after the country’s first trial against opioid manufacturers wrapped up Monday. The state is asking for $17 billion in damages. Jackie Fortier of StateImpact Oklahoma has covered the trial from start to finish for NPR and Kaiser Health News. This account of the seven-week trial’s closing arguments aired on NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Tuesday. (Fortier, 7/17)
