Nearly $300K Awarded To Anne Arundel County To Fight Opioid Abuse

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Anne Arundel County has received almost $300,000 in grant money from the state Opioid Operational Command Center and Emergency Management Agency to assist with executing public outreach programming designed to increase awareness and decrease deaths from opioid overdoses, as well as the stigma associated with opioid addiction.

“Our administration continues to be committed to using every resource possible to ensure our local jurisdictions have access to life-saving resources such as programs aimed towards prevention, treatment, and recovery,” said Gov. Larry Hogan in a statement. “These grants are a powerful tool for our local communities in our fight against the opioid epidemic.”

The funding for fiscal year 2020 is part of a $50 million, five-year commitment from the administration announced in 2017. Anne Arundel County will receive $278,074 to also continue support for safe stations and to support start-up funding for a recovery center.

Statewide efforts that will receive funding in FY 2020 include:

• $4 million in block grants distributed to local opioid intervention teams for each jurisdiction to determine how best to fight the opioid epidemic; and
• More than $5.6 million in competitive grants to fight the opioid crisis through prevention and education, enforcement & public safety, and treatment & recovery programs.

Specific information about competitive grants impacting Anne Arundel County for fiscal 2020 are as follows:

Prevention & Education

• $184,000 to expand law enforcement-assisted diversion (LEAD) to treatment programs
• $14,000 to support mental & behavioral health counseling for children and families who are surviving victims of the opioid crisis.
• $295,000 to support statewide EMS education initiative for treating opiate overdoses
• $66,000 to provide support for children whose parent(s) and other close relatives have experienced a fatal or nonfatal overdose in Anne Arundel County/Annapolis
• $49,000 for an anti-stigma campaign in four counties across each region of the state that will create awareness of opioid-use disorder and related stigma
• $50,000 to provide harm-reduction materials at Maryland senior centers

Enforcement & Public Safety

• $580,000 to increase monitoring and regulatory oversight of controlled substances prescribers and dispensers

Treatment & Recovery

• $380,000 to improve access to naloxone statewide, specifically EMS
• $53,000 for peer-support services at the Jennifer Road Detention Center in Anne Arundel County
• $88,000 to support a Family Peer Support Outreach Specialist for Maryland families who are struggling with substance-use disorders
• $20,000 to train women who are incarcerated as certified peer-recovery specialists
• $61,000 to support a care coordinator and peer outreach associate to help individuals and families suffering from a substance-use disorder
• $70,000 to expand recovery services in Anne Arundel County/Annapolis with Serenity Sistas
• $98,000 to support families impacted by substance use statewide