Two Nebraska governments have been awarded a total of nearly $17 million in federal grant funding to beef up the battle against drug overdoses.
The Douglas County Health Department and the Nebraska Health and Human Services Department are among 40 local health departments and 49 states to receive the grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) program.
Douglas County announced Tuesday that it is to receive $4.45 million over a five-year period. The NHHS said it is to receive $12.4 million over the same time frame.
The funds are expected to play a vital role in advancing the nation’s response to the opioid epidemic.
They will boost efforts to collect comprehensive and timely data on overdoses, which can be used to improve prevention and other programming to reduce deaths and harm.
“This grant will make a lasting impact and provide hope to those affected by substance use disorders,” said Lindsay Huse, Douglas County health director.
For the NHHS, it is the second five-year allotment, said spokesman Allan Urlis.
Earlier funding allowed for various efforts, including a program that provided Nebraska coroners with free toxicology testing so there would be fewer cases with “unknown drug” as the cause of death.
Among other efforts, the state also was able to provide funding to 18 local health departments to do a wide range of opioid overdose prevention strategies.
Nebraska’s newly announced grants are part of $279 million awarded to states, the District of Columbia and local health departments to help stop overdoses within their communities.
“The drug overdose crisis in the United States is constantly changing and complex and is claiming the lives of our parents, children, siblings, colleagues and friends,” said Grant Baldwin, director of the CDC’s overdose prevention division.
A recent CDC report noted that counterfeit pill use in overdose deaths more than doubled from the three-month period of July-September 2019 to October-December 2021. The federal agency said in a media statement announcing the overdose grant funding that pills are especially dangerous because they typically appear as pharmaceutical pills but often contain illegally made fentanyl and illegal benzodiazepines or other drugs, with or without people’s knowledge.
“The growing overdose crisis ― particularly among young people ― requires urgent action,” said CDC director Mandy Cohen.
By Cindy Gonzalez – Nebraska Examiner
Tags: Addiction Services Drug Strategy Fentanyl Funding Harm Reduction Opioid Epidemic Overdose Programs
