The Trump administration has delayed $140 million in grants for fentanyl overdose response efforts, potentially impacting the Overdose To Action program. CDC staff indicate that these funding cuts could lead to layoffs and program shutdowns, triggering a negative chain reaction. State and local public health departments consider these funds vital to combatting overdose deaths linked to fentanyl and other drugs. The absence of this funding could reverse recent progress, which was significant during the COVID-19 pandemic when drug deaths surged.
"These are lives at stake," said one CDC staffer, who has a role administering the addiction grant program, known as the Overdose To Action program, often referred to as OD2A. "The announcement [of delays] alone could trigger layoffs and program shutdowns. It could really start a chain reaction that's hard to come back from."
"[OD2A funding has] been a critical piece of the decreases we've seen in overdose deaths," said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition. "Any changes to funding levels would be catastrophic and would really send us backwards."
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