August 29th, 2019 by WCBC Radio

Maryland’s Opioid Operational Command Center (OOCC), in coordination with the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, today announced nearly $10 million in grants to fight the heroin and opioid epidemic during fiscal year 2020.  

“Our administration continues to be committed to using every resource possible to ensure our local jurisdictions have access to life-saving resources such as programs aimed towards prevention, treatment, and recovery,” said Governor Larry Hogan. “These grants are a powerful tool for our local communities in our fight against the opioid epidemic.” 

The funding for Fiscal Year 2020 is part of a $50 million, five-year commitment from the administration announced in 2017.

“Combatting the ongoing opioid epidemic and saving the lives of Marylanders continues to be a top priority of this administration,” said Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford. “The programs and recipients of this funding represent the comprehensive, holistic approach we are taking to address this issue from all angles.”  

“I am delighted that more than fifty critical programs all across the state of Maryland will be funded through more than $5.6 million in competitive grants, in addition to $4 million in block grants that will be distributed to each of the individual jurisdictions to determine how best to fight the opioid epidemic,” said Steve Schuh, Executive Director of the Opioid Operational Command Center. “As Governor Hogan observed from the beginning of this crisis, this battle will be won through the combined efforts of all of the local communities across the state. The OOCC supports all of these great programs.”

Efforts that will receive funding in FY 2020 include:

•  $4 million in block grants distributed to local Opioid Intervention Teams for each jurisdiction to determine how best to fight the opioid epidemic; and
• Over $5.6 million in competitive grants to fight the opioid crisis through prevention & education, enforcement & public safety, and treatment & recovery programs.

Competitive grants for fiscal 2020 are as follows:

Prevention & Education

• $440,000 to provide training and mentorship in a stress and trauma-relief model to educators, healthcare workers, and addiction and detention programs across Allegany County
• $184,000 to expand law-enforcement-assisted diversion (LEAD) to treatment programs
• $47,000 to provide prevention-focused programming in two Carroll County high schools, four Carroll County middle schools, as well as 4th and 5th grade students from five Westminster-area elementary schools
• $14,000 to support mental & behavioral health counseling for children and families who are surviving victims of the opioid crisis.
• $56,000 for Carroll County public school’s opioid abuse prevention project
• $295,000 to support statewide EMS education initiative for treating opiate overdoses
• $8,000 to support Lower Shore Addiction Awareness Visual Arts Competition
• $137,000 to support informational campaign, education and training, and enhanced data collection in Queen Anne’s County
• $59,000 to support a multi-faceted campaign for opioid prevention and awareness in the St. Mary’s County public school system
• $62,000 to provide a licensed social worker for students in the Bay Hundred area of Talbot County
• $87,000 to support Washington Goes Purple activities to increase awareness of opioid addiction and to encourage students to get/stay involved in school
• $49,000 to support Worcester Goes Purple awareness campaign
• $66,000 to provide support for children whose parent(s) and other close relatives have experienced a fatal or nonfatal overdose in Anne Arundel County/Annapolis
• $60,000 to provide health curriculum in Calvert County public school system focusing on mental- and emotional-health supports and substance-abuse prevention
• $56,000 to support substance abuse prevention groups in the Calvert County public school system
• $97,000 to support prevention efforts in the Cecil County public schools system
• $94,000 to support prevention programming for Cecil County youth
• $59,000 for parenting and family training sessions in Harford County to increase resilience and reduce risk factors
• $49,000 for an anti-stigma campaign in four counties across each region of the state that will create awareness of opioid-use disorder and related stigma
• $50,000 to provide harm-reduction materials at Maryland senior centers
• $20,000 to support opioid-education programming in Talbot County
• $13,000 support drug-disposal boxes in Washington County
• $15,000 to support high-intensity services for justice-involved youth and family members in Washington County

Enforcement & Public Safety

• $580,000 to increase monitoring and regulatory oversight of controlled substances prescribers and dispensers
• $57,000 to support the Washington County Sheriff’s Office day reporting center
• $205,000 to support the Sheriff’s Office efforts to educate the community on opioids, etc. in Allegany County
• $62,000 to support a Heroin Coordinator in Caroline County, which helps to make the link between law enforcement and treatment