A community service board wants to build a detox center for youths in the Fort Oglethorpe area. An Athens nonprofit has proposed buying two vans so it can get the vulnerable women it serves to their addiction treatment appointments. And Emory University aims to prevent burnout among police officers and other first responders on the frontlines of the deadly opioid overdose crisis.
They are among 240 organizations across the state that have submitted 308 applications seeking a total of $248.3 million in grants from Georgia’s Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust, according to records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Regional and state officials plan to approve only a fraction of that — about $50 million — by this fall, though another application round is expected to begin early next year.
“We have a lot of opportunities to really put in place some innovative ideas and to be very selective about how this money is distributed,” said Kevin Tanner, who leads the trust and serves as the commissioner of Georgia’s Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities.
Applicants rejected this year will have plenty of chances to try again. Over the next 18 years, about $479 million is expected to flow into Georgia’s trust. It will come from a $26 billion multistate court settlement reached with companies that made or distributed prescription painkillers linked to the opioid epidemic: AmerisourceBergen, now called Cencora; Cardinal Health; McKesson; and Janssen, now known as Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine.
The money is being divided up among the states based on the amounts of painkillers shipped to them, how many opioid-related deaths have happened within their borders and how many of their residents are suffering from opioid addiction.
Doctors routinely prescribe opioids for pain. Misuse of the drugs can have deadly consequences. In Georgia, opioid-involved overdose deaths more than doubled between 2012 and 2020, rising from 554 to 1,332, according to the state’s Public Health Department.
Georgia’s single largest funding request came from Bridge Health, a community service board based in North Georgia. It has asked for $14.4 million to build a behavioral health crisis center in Catoosa County that would provide psychiatric care and detox services primarily to youths, ages 14-17. It would be open to walk-in patients and feature 10 beds for those undergoing observation, plus 30 more for those experiencing crises.
Bridge Health CEO Heather Roesner bemoaned the dearth of such services in her region and pointed to the letters of support her organization has received from school and law enforcement officials.
Now, those who need help, she said, “are crossing state lines. Or they are having to go very far south to get treatment. And that is just not what we want to see for our residents.”
For-profit organizations have also asked for funding, including Eagle Overlook Recovery for Adolescents. It has requested $13.1 million to renovate its existing space in Dahlonega for adult patients and to build a 40,000-square-foot facility nearby for psychiatric care, medication-assisted treatment and related services for youths.
“I am very realistic about the way that I approach this opioid crisis. I don’t believe it is a simple solution,” said the founder, Kambiz Aflatoon, an addiction psychiatrist. “It requires a very comprehensive approach.”
Most applicants have asked for less than $500,000. For example, activists at the Divas Who Win Freedom Center — an Athens nonprofit that helps women recover from prostitution, sexual trafficking and addiction — have asked for $472,700. Created in 2018, the nonprofit wants to spend the money buying a pair of vans, renovating a nearby building for its program and expanding its services to the five counties bordering Clarke.
Those who work at the nonprofit speak from experience, including the founder, Chanda Santana. Her opioid addiction began after she was prescribed painkillers for dental procedures and childbirths.
“I have not touched an opioid in 18 years,” she said. “The power for me was to see other women who have been able to beat this.”
Santana added that, if her nonprofit doesn’t receive a grant from the trust this year, “we will have our application poised to submit it again in January. It is a deadly epidemic, and these are life-changing services.”
Some of the applicants are proposing alternative forms of treatment. John and Rachael Templeton, both chiropractors who own New Life Chiropractic and Functional Neurology in Statesboro, have created a nonprofit called Balanced Generations, which is asking for $443,300. The money would be used to offer spinal adjustments and neurofeedback therapy.
“I just applied for Bulloch County. Ideally, I would like this to be nationwide or statewide because this is a bigger problem, not just in Bulloch County,” Rachael Templeton said.
Asked how officials would watchdog the spending, Tanner said the trust will enter into contracts with grant recipients, requiring them to spend the money as planned and to submit quarterly financial reports. The trust is also considering hiring an organization, such as a university, to help ensure the spending is effective, Tanner said. He hopes to eventually make all the grant applications publicly available on the trust’s website, www.gaopioidtrust.org.
The grant selection process, Tanner said, will also help ensure the money is spent properly. Many factors will be considered, he said, including the applicants’ qualifications and whether they have demonstrated needs. Eight applications have already been rejected because they were incomplete, Tanner said.
“There is going to be a tough selection process,” he added. “It is a very intensive process that will have a lot of different eyes on it, a lot of different expertise and a lot of people who represent the local communities having a say in how this funding will ultimately be distributed.”
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