Feds To Spend $100 Million To Treat Painkiller Addiction
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The federal government has announced nearly $100 million in funding to fight opioid addiction.
U.S. Health and Human Services Regional Director Kathleen Falk said the money will go primarily to health care facilities which will be able to hire 800 more substance abuse professionals, and treat an additional 124,000 people.
"The dollars also will go towards training and educational resources to those who are prescribing opioids, because we know that that is a really important component of our overall effort to end this epidemic," she said.
The effort also includes getting the drug Naloxone – which reverses the effects of opioid overdoses – into the hands of more first responders.
Falk said, in 2014, nearly 9,000 people died of drug overdoses in the Great Lakes region alone.
"We are taking a major step forward in helping those with opioid disorders access the treatment they need," she said.
She said the department also is helping doctors make more informed decisions when prescribing opioids, which are used as painkillers.
Opioids include legal prescription drugs such as morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, and fentanyl. The illegal drug heroin is also an opiod.