IU, Gov. Holcomb Announce $50 Million Initiative To Fight Opioid Crisis

Governor Eric Holcomb and Indiana University officials came together to announce a new $50 million effort to fight the state's opioid addiction crisis. During the announcement at the Statehouse Tuesday, Gov. Holcomb said the new $50 grant from Indiana University will fill key areas in this fight and save lives. According to a release, IU's seven campuses, state officials, IU Health, Eskenazi Health and others are partneing for this statewide initiative, one of the nation's largest responses to the current opiod addiction crisis and the largest led by a university.

"To combat this, we've expanded the # of treatment centers, given locals authority to initiate needle exchanges, limited opioid prescriptions," Gov. Holcomb said in a tweet.

Utilizing IU's seven campuses across the state, and in partnership with state officials, IU Health, Eskenazi Health and others, this statewide initiative is one of the nation's largest and most comprehensive state-based responses to the opioid addiction crisis -- and the largest led by a university.

This initiative is part of IU's bicentennial Grand Challenges Program, and will focus on five key areas: Ground-level data collection and analysis, training and education, policy analysis and development, addictions science and community and workforce development.

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According to a release from the university, Hoosiers are now more likely to die from a drug overdose than a car accident, and we live in one of four states where the rate of fatal drug overdoses have more than quadrupled since 1999, leading to more than $1 billion annually in drug overdose costs.

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The university adds more people died from drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2016 alone than the total number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War.

Holcomb has made tackling the opioid crisis one of his highest priorities, creating the position of executive director for drug prevention, treatment and enforcement within his office to coordinate the state's efforts, calling on all Hoosiers to come together and reduce the impact of this crisis.

More information: @GovHolcomb, news.iu.edu

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