WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Northern West Virginia issued the following announcement on Dec. 28.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) announced grant awards totaling more than $300 million to help combat America’s substance use crisis, which has worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. In the Northern District of West Virginia, more than $1.8 million was awarded, announced United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II.

“Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation is experiencing a precipitous rise in opioid and stimulant misuse and overdoses,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department is committed to supporting programs aimed at addressing the substance use crisis that is devastating communities across the nation.”

The most recent provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that, “there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during the 12-month period ending in April 2021, an increase of 28.5% from the 78,056 deaths during the same period the year before.”

“The substance use crisis in American society has been a persistent and deadly problem for decades, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl and synthetic opioids have tightened the grip drugs have on our society,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Amy L. Solomon for OJP.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is working diligently to address these problems by committing unprecedented levels of funding toward research, substance use treatment and mental health services, along with investments in enforcement, response and evidence-based treatment.”

OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) are distributing millions of dollars in grant awards aimed at addressing the substance use crisis throughout the nation. In addition to these grants, OJP is awarding $34 million to help communities respond to public safety and public health emergencies, including crises that result from substance use disorders.

Below is a list of awards being made in Fiscal Year 2021 to address the opioid and stimulant crisis and the needs of individuals with substance use disorders:

BJA is awarding more than $137 million under its Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant and Substance Abuse Site-Based Program, which will help communities address the prevention, diversion, treatment and recovery needs of those affected by substance use disorders. Another $9.7 million is funding related training and technical assistance.

• Berkeley County was awarded $900,000 to support the Berkeley County Day Report Center. The Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Site-Based Program (COSSAP) will provide an opportunity for Berkeley County to support those most vulnerable in the community to the opioid crisis - the children. Working in partnership with Berkeley County Schools, and the Martinsburg Initiative the program, hosted by the Berkeley Recovery Resource Center, will provide Peer Recovery services to address treatment and intervention needs primarily for students and secondarily, their family members, strengthen social services where children have been impacted by drug addition to connect them to community services, and provide sustaining funds to Project AWARE, an ongoing initiative of the Berkeley County School system whose overarching goal is to improve the mental health and wellbeing of all school-aged children. The long-term goal of the community is to curtail opioid use, supporting all citizens to lead productive, healthy lives.

More than $61.6 million under BJA’s Adult Drug and Veteran Treatment Court Program will help states, state courts, local courts and federally recognized tribal governments implement and enhance the operations of adult drug courts and veteran treatment courts. Another $15.7 million is funding related training and technical assistance.

BJA is awarding $29.6 million to support the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners Program, which helps states develop and implement residential substance use treatment programs, including medication assisted treatment within correctional and detention facilities.

• The West Virginia Department of Military Affair and Public Safety was awarded $245,539 for the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) for State Prisoners Program. The program assists states and local governments to develop and implement substance abuse treatment programs in state and local correctional and detention facilities and to create and maintain community-based aftercare services for offenders.

BJA is awarding nearly $29.6 million to fund the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, which enhances the capacity of regulatory and law enforcement agencies and public health officials to collect and analyze controlled substance prescription data and other scheduled chemical products through a centralized database administered by an authorized agency.

OJJDP is awarding $16 million to support Mentoring for Youth Affected by the Opioid Crisis and Drug Addiction, which supports services for youth who are currently using or at-risk for using drugs or to youth with family members who have a substance use disorder.

 

OJJDP is awarding more than $8.9 million to support the Opioid Affected Youth Initiative, which will support states, communities, tribes and nonprofits implementing programs and strategies that treat children, youth and families impacted by the opioid epidemic.

• Morgan County was awarded $702,864 for the Morgan County Partnership. The MCP will use funding to create an initiative to improve outcomes for opioid and substance use affected youth and families in a rural West Virginia. MCP will coordinate a multi-sector collaboration among child welfare agencies, school-based mental health providers, criminal justice systems, behavioral health providers, and other community-based organizations to provide parent education, and school-based substance use prevention programming and therapeutic supports. MCP will partner with Court Appointed Special Advocates of the Eastern Panhandle and Shenandoah Valley Health Care System’s Family Resource Center to provide youth mentorship supports to justice-involved abused and neglected opioid affected youth in the foster care system, with the overarching goal to promote public safety and provide evidence-based interventions.

OJJDP’s Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Program is awarding nearly $7.9 million to jurisdictions to establish or enhance juvenile drug treatment courts and to improve court system operations and treatment services.

OJJDP is awarding $13.8 million across 14 jurisdictions under its Family Drug Court Program to build the capacity of state and local courts, units of local government and federally recognized tribal governments to implement family drug court practices. The program aims to increase collaboration with substance use treatment and child welfare systems to ensure the provision of treatment and other services that improve child, parent and family outcomes.

Original source can be found here.