Minnesota is getting nearly $9 million in federal money to combat the state’s growing drug overdose crisis and improve residents’ access to mental health services.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced Friday the Minnesota Department of Human Services would receive $6 million to expand access to medication-assisted opioid addiction treatment. The White Earth Band of Ojibwe also will receive $250,000 for emergency response to drug overdoses.
“Doubling down on efforts to combat the opioid crisis in our state is as critical as it has ever been,” said Klobuchar in a statement.
On Thursday, the federal Health Resources and Service Administration, or HRSA, detailed $2.7 million in new funding for addiction treatment and mental health services that will be directed to 16 health centers across the state.
“No corner of our country, from rural areas to urban centers, has escaped the scourge of the opioid crisis,” said Tom Price, Health and Human Services Secretary, who noted the funds were part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to combat the nation’s growing opioid addiction. “These grants from HRSA go directly to local organizations, which are best situated to address substance abuse and mental health issues in their own communities.”
Last week, state health officials announced Minnesota’s drug overdoses grew 9.2 percent in 2016 to 637 deaths. Nearly 60 percent of those fatalities were caused by opioids including heroin, prescription painkillers and other synthetic drugs.
State leaders recently launched a database full of information about opioids and drug overdoses to help local agencies respond to the growing crisis.
Much of the money Klobuchar announced Friday comes from the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, a bipartisan bill that was signed into law in July 2016. Late last year Congress approved $1 billion to fight opioid addiction.
Klobuchar has also backed legislation that would require states to participate in prescription drug monitoring programs if they receive federal money to fight opioid addiction. The bill would require states to share their prescription drug data.
Three organizations in St. Paul — Open Cities Health Center, United Family Practice Health Center and West Side Community Health Services, Inc. — will each receive part of the HRSA grants. Eight health services provides in Minneapolis and others across Minnesota will also receive funding.
Nationwide HRSA has awarded $200 million to 1,178 health centers many of which are in rural communities that have been battered by opioid addiction. The money is to be focused on addiction treatment, prevention and increasing awareness of the risks the drugs pose.
Nationally, 33,091 people died from opioid overdoses in 2015, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s four times the number of deaths from the drugs in 1999.
Minnesota’s death rate from opioids is lower than the national average of 10 deaths per 100,000 people. But deaths from the drug have been on the rise for more than a decade with prescription opioids continuing to be the top cause of fatalities.