The report provides insight into how funds are being spent at the state and county-level. Reports from states and counties across the country suggest opioid-involved overdose deaths are rising in 2020. Provisional data suggests overall drug overdose death rates climbed by 4.9% in 2019, resulting in more than 71,000 deaths and erasing the slight decline in 2018.
Key take-aways from the report include:
- Total federal opioid funding in FY2019 was $7.6 billion, up from $7.4 billion in FY2018.
- $5.3 billion of the funding was disbursed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and $3.7 billion was administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
- With few exceptions, the geographic distribution of federal opioid funding has remained relatively stable with funds going to counties with the highest number of overdose deaths.
- Workforce shortages are a significant barrier to treatment expansion.
- Incarcerated individuals are not receiving the standard of care for opioid use disorder even though overdose death is the leading cause of death upon release from jails and prisons.
- Every state funds naloxone training and distribution.
The report includes several state case studies and recommendations to combat the opioid overdose crisis. Read the full report.