Feds Award Connecticut $5 Million to Combat Opioid Crisis

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has awarded the State of Connecticut with two grants totaling $5 million to help combat the opioid addiction epidemic.

"The prescription pain medication and heroin crisis continues to grip families throughout our nation, and across our state," Malloy said. "This funding will give us much-needed support to not only help those fighting addiction, but prevent people from becoming addicted in the first place."

More about the grants:

The Strategic Prevention Framework Partnerships for Prescription Drugs Grant will provide Connecticut $371,615 each year over the next five years to strengthen drug abuse prevention efforts. The grant provides an opportunity for states and territories that have completed a Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant to target the priority issue of prescription drug misuse.

The funds will be used to raise awareness about the dangers of sharing medications and to work with pharmaceutical and medical communities on the risks of overprescribing. It will also be used to raise community awareness and bring prescription drug abuse prevention activities and education to schools, communities, parents, prescribers, and their patients.

The Medication-Assisted Treatment Prescription Drug Opioid Addiction Grant will provide $1 million each year over the next three years to expand access to medication-assisted treatment services for persons with opioid use disorder in Connecticut. This program targets states identified as having the highest rates of primary treatment admissions for heroin and opioids per capita, and prioritizes those states with the most dramatic recent increases for heroin and opioids.

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