The Biden administration proposed a $1.5 billion grant programme to assist states, territories, and tribal lands in combating the opioid pandemic.
The funding would allow states to invest in better overdose education and enhance the availability of FDA-approved naloxone medications, which are used to assist reverse an opioid overdose.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdoses killed more than 107,000 individuals in the United States last year. The statistic represented a 15% rise in overdose-related mortality starting in 2020.
Members of the Biden administration, including the Second Gentleman and U.S. Secretary of Labor, attended the Recovery Month Summit to demonstrate their support for those in recovery and to explore grant financing.
More than $104 million in financing will go directly to rural towns impacted hard by the opioid crisis. It will be used for workforce training, education, and outreach, as well as new medication-assisted treatment locations.
In his fiscal year 2023 budget, Biden also requested more than $42.5 billion in financing for National Drug Control Agencies. The investment would be a $3.2 billion increase over last year.
The opioid crisis has been a serious issue throughout the nation in recent years. There have been a number of settlements where the plaintiffs or the affected families have been rewarded decently for the damage caused due to opioids.
The settlements involve several states, counties and cities, along with the opioid manufacturers and distributors. Johnson & Johnson and the drug distributors Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson are the major defendants in the cases who have paid huge sums to resolve the lawsuits.
Even though a national settlement of $26 billion has been announced by the jury to deal with the opioid damages, the Biden administration programme is a bigger helping hand to deal with the nationwide opioid crisis.
