President Obama is proposing a huge boost in funding for combating the opioid epidemic, calling for a $1.1 billion increase over the next two years.
The money would be used to expand treatment options for painkiller and heroin addicts and would expand access to the heroin-overdose drug naloxone for first responders. The funding, to be outlined in the president’s fiscal 2017 budget proposal next week, is a major boost from the $127 million in funds given this year to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The request includes $920 million for cooperative agreements with states to expand access to medication-assisted treatment, which is critical to solving the opioid epidemic that kills 44 Americans a day, officials said.
“Expanding access to medication-assisted treatment is an important part of our strategy for this problem,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell told reporters during a press call Tuesday.
The $920 million in funding would be split evenly over fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018, officials said.
The budget request includes about $500 million to build on efforts across the Department of Justice and HHS to expand state-level prescription drug overdose strategies. That includes the expanded access to naloxone.
A portion is specifically targeted to about 30 rural areas to buy naloxone.
Administration officials were confident that Congress would be amenable to the increase, noting that combating opioid abuse is receiving strong bipartisan support.
There is “significant interest in dealing with this, and resources are part of the equation in terms of our response to this,” said Michael Botticelli, director of national drug control policy at the White House.
