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Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Friday the state will receive $22 million in federal funding to fight the opioid epidemic.

The Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) will receive the funds in two $11 million grant packages from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Malloy said.

The funds will be used in several programs to prevent opioid addiction and overdoses in Connecticut, in addition to treating those with opioid use disorders.

The following services will be provided under the grant:

• Expanded access to medication assisted treatment (MAT) such as shelter and street-based MAT in two cities.
• Increased number of hospital emergency departments with access to on-call recovery coaches.
• Purchasing 10,000 doses of naloxone (Narcan), which combats opioid overdoses, for use throughout the state.
• Supporting the state Department of Correction to provide pre- and post-release treatment and overdose prevention to inmates with opioid use disorders.

Meantime, the governor also announced the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) will receive a $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand and upgrade the department's facilities where they work to combat the opioid epidemic. The funds will also support the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

In May, the state's Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) announced opioid prescriptions decreased by 14 percent compared to 2016.

Opioid prescriptions in the state have been reduced by almost 17 percent, or 440,091, since 2014, according to data collected by the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.

DCP said physicians wrote over 2.1 million opioid prescriptions in 2017 compared to 2.6 million prescribed in 2014.

Read HBJ's special series on opioids in the Workplace here

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