By TAYLOR STUCK The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — States will soon be able to utilize opioid funding from the federal government to address the resurgence of methamphetamine and cocaine.
The 2020 funding bill passed by Congress in December included Republican Ohio Sen. Rob Portman’s Combating Meth and Cocaine Act. The bill expands the use of the State Opioid Response Grant funding to address rising use and overdose deaths attributed to the abuse of methamphetamine and cocaine.
“This is not just an opioid problem. This is an addiction problem,” Portman said on the floor of the Senate on Dec. 19. “And addiction is a disease that must be treated like other diseases. And although we have made progress, we can’t rest on our laurels, because when I talk to those on the front lines, as I did on Monday in Dayton with law enforcement — the sheriff was there for Montgomery County — but also to treatment providers, those who are in the trenches, talking to those who are recovering addicts who were there, they tell me about what’s happening, which is that increasingly other drugs, including psychostimulants like crystal meth and cocaine, are making a horrible comeback in those communities.”
