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Kaptur: Ohio Awarded $2 Million for Opioid Misuse and
Overdose Programs
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) last week announced that Ohio
will receive nearly $2 million from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services under three health-related
programs to address the statewide epidemic of opioid misuse
and overdoses.
The awards announced today were made by two agencies within HHS,
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA)
and the Center for Disease Control (CDC), which focus on
opioid misuse and overdoses. Ohio was selected for three
separate programs and will receive a total of $1,998,455 out
of $53 million allocated nationwide to 44 States, four
tribes and the District of Columbia to “improve access to
treatment for opioid use disorders, reduce opioid related
deaths, and strengthen drug abuse prevention efforts. In
addition, funding will also support improved data collection
and analysis around opioid misuse and overdose as well as
better tracking of fatal and nonfatal opioid-involved
overdoses.”
“This is welcome news, of course. Any additional resources are a
help,” said Congresswoman Kaptur. “But this is an epidemic,
and it’s getting worse, based on what I have been told by
medical professionals and law enforcement officials in
northern Ohio. Everyone acknowledges this isn’t enough –
everyone except the Republicans in Congress, that is.”
In Ohio, deaths and overdoses from heroin and opioids have reached
epidemic proportions. According to data released last week
by the Ohio Department of Health, opioid overdoses killed a
record 3,050 people in Ohio in 2015, more than one-third of
them from fentanyl, a super-potent opiate often mixed with
heroin. When the data includes heroin and opioids,
Cuyahoga County has seen 1,386 people die from overdoses
between 2010 to 2015. Deaths in 2016 are expected to exceed
500 in number, nearly double the total from 2015, according
to William Denihan, the chief executive officer of the
Cuyahoga County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health
Services Board. In Lucas County, 113 people died of heroin
or other opioid overdoses in 2015, with roughly 3,000
reported non-fatal overdoses, according to law enforcement
sources.
Ohio will be awarded funds under one program administered by the
Substances Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration,
or SAMHSA, and two programs oversee by the Centers for
Disease Control, or CDC.
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