Nearly $125K Awarded To Howard County To Fight Opioid Abuse

ELLICOTT CITY, MD — Howard County has received almost $125,000 in grant money from the state Opioid Operational Command Center and Emergency Management Agency to assist with connecting opioid users with needed services and treatment providers.

"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. Howard County will receive $124,279 to continue support for SBIRT services (screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment) and connect individuals with treatment providers.

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 Howard 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
• $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
• $37,000 to support peer counselor in Howard County detention center
• $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
• $98,000 to support families impacted by substance use statewide