State getting $80Min federal funds for opioid crisis
Federal funds totaling $80million have been given to Michigan to address the opioid crisis, as announced Monday by the Michigan Opioids Task Force, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services andGov. GretchenWhitmer.
According to a news release, the funds will be used for “prevention, treatment and harm reduction services, with a focus on evidence-based practices that save lives.”
The funding includes $43.1million froman extension of the State Opioid Response I grant and $36.4 million fromthe newState Opioid Response II grant.
Over the last five years, 8,000 Michigan residents have died from opioid overdoses, the news release states, and in 2018 such overdoses claimed an average of five lives per day. Calls to emergency medical services because of opioid overdoses were reportedly 22 percent higher fromApril to July of this year compared to the same period in 2019.
The SOR grants come from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. The MDHHS Behavioral Health
and Developmental Disabilities Administration, Office of Recovery Oriented Systems of Care is the recipient and administrator of the grants.
“Opioid overdose continues to be an ongoing crisis in Michigan and MDHHS is acting with utmost urgency to expand services that save lives, including medications to treat opioid use disorder and naloxone, the life-saving opioid reversal medication,” Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy director for health at MDHHS, stated in the news release. “We urge local governments, health providers, law enforcement and organizations around the state to partner with us in this vital mission.”
Widespread distribution of naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, as well as expanded access to medication used to treat opioid use disorder, are among the efforts to be supported by the grants. The funds will also help pay for start-up costs for newand expanding treatment providers offeringmedication, training and clinical support, with incentives offered to patients who consistently attend treatment programs as a way to increase retention.
Other steps include:
• Creating follow-up programs to conduct wellness checks on overdose survivors
• Distributing sterile syringes
• Building trustwiththose actively using substances
• Supporting diversion of individuals from the criminal justice system to treatment
• Expanding treatment in correctional facilities and courts, assisting reentry for those leaving incarceration
• Prevention education For more information on the state’s opioid crisis response, visit michigan.gov/ opioids.