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A grant coming to Indiana from the federal government allocates more money to treating opioid abuse than in previous years. The Health Resources and Services Administration announced yesterday more than three and a half million dollars will be going to Indiana to tackle the opioid epidemic.
Dr. Basia Andraka-Christou says the grants themselves are not surprising; however, the amount of money appropriated to treatment for substance abuse is what’s new this year.
“These are grants that are annual, but there’s been a significant increase this year in, specifically, grants for mental health and substance abuse services,” she says.
In early August, a national commission recommended that the President declare a national state of emergency due to the opioid epidemic.
Following that, the administration had released a statement instructing the government to respond to the crisis using all resources available. However, it is still unclear whether this statement should be considered a declaration of a state of emergency.
Andraka-Christou says the application period for these grants came before any discussion of a national state of emergency, so she believes they are not directly related.
A spokesperson for the HRSA said in a statement that it had not been decided yet whether this additional funding will become annual.
