States say federal opioid money has helped, want more long-term investments

More than a decade into an opioid overdose epidemic, state and local officials say they need sustainable funding for what they expect to be a long-term struggle to provide effective treatment for legions of people addicted to opioids (Source: “Opioid money has helped, but states want more,” Tribune News Service via Cleveland Plain Dealer, Feb. 4, 2019).

Many officials are counting on settlements in civil cases against the drugmakers and distributors that state and local governments blame for the epidemic. Other states are considering an annual assessment against drug companies or a tax on painkillers. 

In the meantime, frontline practitioners in the opioid epidemic say that the infusion of federal money over the past two years, and the possibility of as much as $8 billion more over the next five years under a law enacted in October, has saved thousands of lives and is starting to change the hearts and minds of traditional addiction treatment providers who have long opposed the use of evidence-based medications to treat addiction.

To learn more about Ohio’s policy response to the addiction crisis, see HPIO’s addiction-related work.