National Efforts Being Made to Address America’s Opioid Crisis

Several actions have been taken recently at the national level to address the opioid epidemic by expanding access to evidence-based prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support services and reduce the supply of illicit drugs like fentanyl. The following is a listing of some notable advancements made in 2021–2022 to help Americans with substance use disorders (SUDs). Due to space limitations, this list does not represent all actions that have been taken.

Prevention

• The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) announced an additional $12 million focused on new High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTAs), public health, and public safety partnerships working to prevent overdoses, and efforts to prevent gun crimes associated with drug trafficking.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued guidance to facilitate the distribution of approved naloxone products to save lives by supporting the drug’s increased availability to underserved communities.
• SAMHSA oversaw a threefold increase in primary substance use prevention funding in 2021, the largest investment in primary prevention in history. SAMHSA supported 743 community primary prevention grants in 2021 totaling over $182 million, including grants to tribes and local community substance use prevention coalitions.
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) supported more than 85 new studies to inform, develop, and test prevention interventions in different populations and settings to prevent drug use, overdose, or other harms of drug use such as HIV and neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. 

Harm Reduction

• The American Rescue Plan included $30 million in grants for harm reduction services that will enhance interventions like syringe services programs (SSPs) through a grant operated by SAMHSA at HHS.
• SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse and Prevention (CSAP) supported the distribution of more than 178,000 naloxone kits that were used to help more than 62,000 people experiencing an overdose. 
• The CDC and SAMHSA announced that federal funding may now be used to purchase fentanyl test strips in an effort to help curb the dramatic spike in drug overdose deaths.
• Through the NIH HEAL Initiative®, NIDA is establishing a $21 million harm reduction research network to increase understanding of the effectiveness, implementation, and impact of harm reduction practices to address the ongoing opioid epidemic.

Treatment and Recovery

• The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) launched the Recovery-Ready Workplace Resource Hub with information and resources for businesses, unions, and others exploring the benefits of becoming recovery-ready workplaces.
• HHS, through SAMHSA, awarded nearly $1.5 billion to support the efforts of states, tribal lands, and territories to address the opioid crisis and support individuals in recovery. The grants are part of SAMHSA’s State Opioid Response and Tribal Opioid Response grant programs.
• The American Rescue Plan invested more than $5 billion to enable HHS to expand access to vital mental health and SUD services. This included more than $3 billion for states and territories through SAMHSA’s Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SABG) Program.
• The CDC has provided over $300 million per year through Overdose Data to Action to support 47 states; Washington, D.C.; two territories; and 16 high-burden cities and counties in collecting comprehensive data on overdoses to inform prevention and response efforts.

Supply Reduction

• Since the issuance of Executive Order (E.O.) 14059 in December, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated individuals and entities involved in drug trafficking. Working with the foreign partners and industries, the U.S. Department of the Treasury will use sanctions to disrupt the production of synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
• ONDCP announced $275 million for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program and announced the addition of six counties to the ONDCP-funded HIDTA program. These counties in California, Illinois, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania will receive support for regional law enforcement to dismantle drug trafficking organizations.
• The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized more than 15,000 pounds of fentanyl in 2021. The DEA also seized more than 20.4 million potentially deadly fake pills marketed by criminal drug networks, many of which contain lethal amounts of fentanyl.
• Customs and Border Protection (CBP) significantly increased the amount of fentanyl seizures along the Southwest border, seizing more than 800 pounds of fentanyl each month in fiscal year 2021.

Stay up to date on the latest federal initiatives and policies on NBCC’s Government Affairs page.