Providers could get more funding to fight cocaine, meth dependency

LACONIA — Drug treatment providers would have greater flexibility in how they use federal money under a provision of government funding legislation for the 2020 fiscal year.

The provision, authored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, allows State Opioid Response grants to be used to help patients with methamphetamine and cocaine dependency. Currently, these grants can only be used for those with opioid-based substance misuse disorders.

Wording of the government funding legislation was released by U.S. Senate and House leaders Monday afternoon.

New Hampshire received $35 million in SOR grants in the 2019 fiscal year.

“The substance use disorder epidemic we’re facing today isn’t the same one we were fighting a few years ago, so as this crisis evolves so should our response,” Shaheen said in a news release. 

“By empowering treatment providers with the ability to use these federal grants for a broader range of substance misuse, we can help ensure more Granite Staters get the help they desperately need.”

Shaheen said her effort to permit greater flexibility in using SOR grants grew out of discussions she had with recovery providers.

“It’s so heartbreaking to see the devastation to families and communities from this crisis and we need to make sure treatment providers have the tools they need to save lives,” she said.

Daisy Pierce, executive director of Navigating Recovery in Laconia, said it’s important to be able to use SOR funds for people with cocaine and meth dependency.

“Just being able to expand the people we can work with is incredibly advantageous to New Hampshire efforts to address this public health epidemic,” she said.

“People with substance use disorder already face enough barriers when seeking treatment, and marginalizing them further based on the substance most challenging to their recovery was counterproductive.”

Pierce said Navigating Recovery statistics show 28.5 percent of participants report both use of meth or cocaine in addition to opioids as “being substances challenging to their recovery.”

Another 35.7 percent reported using meth or cocaine but not opioids, and a like percentage reported using opioids but not meth or cocaine.

The $35 million New Hampshire received in SOR grants this year was more than a 10-fold increase compared to the previous year.

The funding bill contains a total of $1.5 billion for the national SOR grant program and maintains a 15 percent set-aside for hardest-hit states, including New Hampshire.