Congress sent states hundreds of millions of dollars to fight an opioid crisis claiming more than 100 lives a day, but much of the money is unspent after a year, reports Politico. Mixed signals from the Trump administration on how to use the money and state challenges in ramping up their efforts have left untouched more than three-quarters of the $500 million Congress set aside under the 21st Century Cures Act in late 2016. As President Trump heads to hard-hit New Hampshire on Monday to tout his plan to combat the crisis, the slow drip of dollars into communities hit hard by addiction has put state officials in a bind, and frustrated addiction experts and treatment organizations. “This is a total failure,” said Andrew Kolodny, former chief medical officer at Phoenix House now at Brandeis University. He likens the situation to food and water “stuck in an airport somewhere, while people are starving to death.”
The grants for opioid addiction and prevention efforts were part of a $1 billion appropriation over two years provided in the Cures Act, which President Obama signed just before leaving office. State officials were happy to receive new money, but the two-year span made it difficult to get long-term commitments from health care providers to build programs and hire a workforce. Many of those trying to expand access to medication-assisted treatment, buy overdose reversal drugs and bolster recovery programs were hamstrung in their efforts to solve an expanding public health emergency with a short-term program. Congress is set to release the second $500 million tranche of aid soon, and is weighing whether to extend the grants beyond two years. The funding is valuable for some programs, but doesn’t come close to paying for aggressive treatment, said Robin Parsons of the Fairbanks Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Center in Indianapolis.