Georgia getting grant money to fight opioid, heroin overdose epidemic

The Trump administration is issuing $485 million in grants to all 50 states and U.S. territories —including $11.7 million for Georgia — to combat the nation’s painkiller and heroin overdose epidemic, a crisis that killed more than 33,000 people in 2015.

To be issued through the 21st Century Cures Act, the grant money could be used to fight opioid addiction through prevention, treatment and recovery services.

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U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price announced the grants at the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in Atlanta.

“We cannot continue to lose our nation’s citizens to addiction,” Price wrote in a recent letter to the nation’s governors. “Through a sustained focus on people, patients, and partnerships, I am confident that together we can turn the tide on this public health crisis.”

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