Concord
The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed the 21st Century Cures Act on Wednesday, with only five senators dissenting. The medical research bill contains $1 billion to help states boost their drug and alcohol treatment and prevention programs. It passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week on a vote of 392 to 26. The bill now will head to President Obama’s desk.
The $1 billion in treatment and prevention money will be divvied up as grants among the 50 states. New Hampshire stands to benefit significantly, as states who have been hardest hit by the drug crisis will get larger portions of the funds. With the third-highest per capita drug overdose deaths in the nation, New Hampshire likely will be high on the priority list.
“What we wanted and what we were able to pass in the bill was a formula focused on the need,” Congresswoman Annie Kuster said. “It’s critically important these resources are directed to the communities most hardest hit.”
There is no set dollar amount for how much federal money New Hampshire will receive.
The bill focuses heavily on treating co-occuring mental health and substance use disorders by upping resources for drug courts and other programs to expand treatment and keep people out of jail.
21st Century Cures will authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to start a pilot program for federal drug courts. These would be established in at least one Federal Judicial District and expand treatment and recovery resources for low-level offenders who are addicted to narcotics or suffer mental health issues.
In addition to increasing resources for drug courts, the bill also would expand programs that are alternatives to incarceration for those with substance use and mental health disorders and amend an existing Residential Substance Abuse Treatment grant to give more money to programs treating people with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.
All four members of the state’s delegation voted for the bill, saying it is a step in the right direction to address the ongoing drug crisis. Even though New Hampshire is bolstering its treatment infrastructure, overdose deaths from heroin and fentanyl still are skyrocketing; the state is on track to see about 500 drug deaths this year.
“I think this is important for New Hampshire and the country,” outgoing Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte said in an interview.
From January to late October, the state has spent $27.3 million of federal, state and outside grant money to help fund treatment centers and drug prevention programs, provide naloxone kits to local communities and boost workforce development.
“The 21st Century Cures Act is a strong recognition of the need to treat the addiction crisis like the public health emergency that it is,” Kuster said. “This legislation will help get those on the frontlines of the epidemic the resources they need to support education, prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts.
Members of the delegation are hopeful the state will see the federal grants soon, with $500 million to be dispensed to the states this year and another $500 million next year.
“This is a major milestone and a long overdue initial investment to combat the opioid epidemic that is devastating families and communities in New Hampshire and across the country,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said.
The money that 21st Century Cures would appropriate is in addition to the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (also known as CARA), a bill designed to expand drug treatment that was signed into law this summer.
CARA authorized $181 million in new spending on treatment and prevention; however, the bill had no funding attached to it. How much money is attached to CARA will be decided this year, and it could be another couple of years before New Hampshire sees money from that legislation.
Ayotte took heat for the bill’s lack of funding during this year’s Senate campaign, which she lost to Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan.
So far, Congress has directed about $7 million in CARA money to the federal Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services “to carry out authorizations” of the law.
If the $181 million in funding is approved, it would go to initiatives including grants to reduce overdose deaths, first-responder training and boosting community coalitions responding to the drug crisis.