Maryland’s Office of Opioid Response is set to award more grants this July as the state continues to try to reduce opioid use and overdoses using funds it won in settlements with drug manufacturers.
The state will announce its second tranche of awards this summer, according to Emily Keller, the special secretary of overdose response.
The group of awards will focus on community-based organizations.
“They're the boots on the ground,” Keller told WYPR Tuesday. “They are doing incredible work. Some of them are smaller organizations that don't have access to grant writers, they don't have huge budgets, and we want to make sure that this money gets to them too. So that’s going to be our next focus area when it comes to the competitive grants.”
Maryland has about $100 million to spend in 2025 from its winnings from opioid manufacturers.
The state already awarded $12.4 million in grants to 28 organizations in March.
“These awards mark another important step forward in our efforts to rectify the historic harms of the opioid and overdose crisis,” said Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller when the awards were announced. “Far too many Maryland families have lost their loved ones to overdoses. The programs we are funding will make real differences in the lives of Marylanders by increasing support for critical services and care for people with substance use disorders.”
The March awards went to organizations like Baltimore Safe Haven for “support for mobile harm reduction services focusing on LGBTQ+ individuals in Baltimore City,” and Youth Empowerment Source for “support for youth substance use prevention programming and expanding naloxone access.”
Maryland relies in part on the Opioid Restitution Fund Advisory Council to make recommendations on how to best spend the funds.
Keller said the state is considering a handful of novel ways to reduce overdoses and drug use.
“Expanding medications for opioid use disorder is certainly a priority,” Keller said. “We're also leading the way because we do provide medications for opioid use disorder in carceral settings. People in prisons are getting treatment while they are recovering from whatever it is that put them there to begin with. When they are released, then they can continue their medication program. And we're seeing really great progress there.”
Maryland is set to receive about $250 million in settlement funds over the next 15 years.
