Sep 12 2019

Today, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded a total of $23,033,316.00 to North Carolina to combat the opioid epidemic by expanding access to treatment and supporting near real-time data on the drug overdose crisis.
 
Senator Tillis has been a leader in promoting an all-the-above solution to combat North Carolina’s opioid addiction crisis. In 2016, he helped get the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act signed into law which provided assistance to substance abuse agencies, local governments, and non-profit organizations in areas of North Carolina and the rest of the nation that are being hit the hardest by opioid abuse. 
 
In 2018, Senator Tillis successfully helped get the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act signed into law by President Trump. This bipartisan legislation takes concrete steps to stop the opioid addiction crisis by improving state prescription drug monitoring programs to prevent overprescriptions, promoting research into non-addictive painkillers to move patients off opioids, and taking steps to slow down the flow of illegal drugs, especially fentanyl, at our border.
 
“The opioid epidemic has devastated communities in North Carolina and across the country,” said Senator Tillis. “I am proud we can take additional steps to help families in need, and I want to thank the Trump Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services for awarding this crucial funding to expand treatment.”
 
Efforts to expand treatment are succeeding: Data suggests approximately 1.27 million Americans are now receiving medication-assisted treatment, out of approximately 2 million Americans with opioid use disorder. Since President Trump took office, the number of patients receiving buprenorphine has increased 28 percent, and the number of naltrexone prescriptions per month has increased 55 percent.
 
From 2017 to 2018, provisional counts of drug overdose deaths dropped by five percent, and overdose deaths from opioids went down 2.8 percent from 2017 to 2018. The number of individuals reporting pain reliever misuse decreased from 2017 to 2018 by 11 percent, with fewer than 10 million Americans now reporting misuse. Heroin-related opioid use disorder also decreased significantly among young adults.

 

###