State 9th in opioid aid spending
Connecticut wastes little time using federal money in crisis
HARTFORD — Connecticut has wasted little time spending emergency money from the federal government aimed at fighting the opioid crisis, ranking ninth among states in the percentage of funds received that have been spent, according to an Associated Press analysis of the first wave of grants.
The state has used nearly 83 percent of the $5.5 million it was given for the first year of the federal program, which ended April 30.
About $2.4 million went to treatment programs, $1 million went to prevention efforts, and another $1 million was spent on recovery programs, which include aid for temporary housing, employment and education.
Congress approved the money as part of a two-year, nearly $1 billion grant program to fight the opioid epidemic.
Connecticut is getting another $5.5 million in federal grants this year, and another $22 million for the state was recently approved for the next two years.
More than 1,000 people died from accidental drug overdoses in Connecticut last year, with about two-thirds involving the powerful opioid fentanyl, according to the chief medical examiner's office.
A total of 515 people died of overdoses in the first six months of this year, putting the state on pace for a yearly total of 1,030, eight fewer than last year. Fentanyl-related deaths are on pace to increase 9 percent this year.
“Far too many Connecticut
families continue to be affected by the opioid crisis,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, said after the $22 million in new funding was announced last month. “Far too many lives have been cut short. Far too many communities torn apart. … What remains abundantly clear is that we must persist in our efforts to combat this crisis.”
At about 24.5 percent, Connecticut has the ninthhighest opioid overdose death rate among the states and Washington, D.C., according to 2016 data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Thanks to the federal funding last year, more than 1,000 people received treatment services, and other 891 received recovery services.
The Village for Families and Children, a Hartfordbased service organization, received $220,000 of the federal funding last year and used it to create a medication-assisted treatment program to help people kick their drug habits, said Steven Moore, a psychologist and vice president of the group.
The treatment program uses shorter-term, nonaddictive drugs rather than methadone, and participants get help in finding jobs or returning to school.
The money allowed the Village to hire staff to run the new program. About 75 people have been treated, including about 10 who now have jobs, another five who entered education programs, and another three or four who are doing volunteer work in the city, Moore said.
“It's allowed us to provide treatment in an integrated way that we otherwise could not have provided,” Moore said of the grants.
A big chunk of the state's grant money, $460,000, went toward drug treatment programs in state prisons.
Despite Connecticut earmarking just over half of last year's $5.5 million in grant money toward treatment, that was the seventh-lowest percentage among states, according to the AP analysis.
States, on average, allocated 68 percent of their grant money toward treatment.