Editor's note:  In addition to an overview of how states are spending federal opioid dollars, the Bipartisan Policy Center report also includes 5 state in-depth briefs—Arizona, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Ohio and Tennessee.  

News release Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Washington, D.C.– In 2017, more than 70,000 people in the United States died from a drug overdose, with almost 50,000 of these deaths involving an opioid. Americans are now at greater risk of dying from an opioid overdose than a car crash. While considerable attention has been paid to the underlying drivers of the epidemic, there has been less focus on the federal funding allocated to address the crisis. A new report, released today by the Bipartisan Policy Center, includes the first comprehensive and transparent study of how the federal government is financially supporting states and localities to curb this national crisis. It calls for federal funding to be more flexible, sustainable, coordinated, and transparent.

The report tracks all federal funding distributed to states in fiscal years (FY) 2017 and 2018 to fight the opioid epidemic and how these resources are being spent. BPC’s robust analysis identified 57 federal programs across five departments and multiple agencies, including the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy that, either entirely or significantly, fund efforts on the state level to tackle the epidemic.

“The sheer volume of grants going to the states has made it challenging for state officials to track and coordinate these funding streams and monitor the quality of treatment that is being provided,” said BPC’s Chief Medical Advisor, Dr. Anand Parekh. “Congress and the administration must provide greater oversight to ensure these federal resources are better coordinated and well spent, so states can respond effectively to this crisis.”

The report also examines how federal opioid investments are spent across five geographically diverse states: Arizona, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Tennessee. The average drug overdose death rate in these states was nearly one and half times (144 percent) higher than the national average in 2017......

The full report go to the BPC website.