NCDHHS announces funds to expand treatment to help those with Opioid Use Disorder, 20 sites awarded grants to expand services

RALEIGH — People struggling with Opioid Use Disorder will have better access to more treatment options because of funding awarded by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Nearly $16,000,000 across 20 health care centers, treatment clinics and community-based providers will be used across the state to expand evidence-based treatment services, as well as employment, housing and transportation supports through innovative pilot programs to better help treat individuals and support them in their recovery.

"The opioid epidemic has taken the lives of far too many North Carolinians," said Deepa Avula, director of the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services. "These funds will help communities build strong, comprehensive approaches to addressing the opioid crisis and will save lives. To treat this disease, we must help support the other areas of someone’s life — gainful employment, stable housing and reliable transportation can massively help someone stay on the path of recovery."

Providers will use these grant funds to enhance and supplement existing services and/or implement new services:

• Expand employment and transportation supports through innovative pilot programs
• Support individuals with opioid use disorder who are involved in the criminal justice system
• Expand proven treatment supports, such as medication assisted treatment, and to improve connections to care and treatment, especially for individuals hospitalized for overdose
• Expand supportive housing services that are inclusive of individuals with substance use disorders, particularly those participating in medication assisted treatment

The 20 agencies receiving grant funds are:

• Anuvia Prevention and Recovery Center, Charlotte ($672,797)
• B&D Integrated Health Services, Durham ($800,000)
• Cabarrus Health Alliance, Kannapolis ($800,000)
• Caring Services, High Point ($797,680)
• Center for Prevention Services, Charlotte ($800,000)
• Coastal Horizons, Wilmington ($779,034)
• Freedom House Recovery Center, Chapel Hill ($799,987)
• Jubilee Home, Durham ($799,840)
• Mountain Area Health Education Center, Asheville ($800,000)
• Mediation & Restorative Justice Center, Boone ($800,000)
• Monarch, Albemarle ($800,000)
• NC Survivors Union, Greensboro ($799,943)
• Oxford House, statewide ($800,000)
• Robeson Health Care Corporation, Pembroke ($800,000)
• SouthLight, Raleigh ($791,086)
• The Mental Health Fund, dba Catawba Valley Healthcare, Hickory ($796,982)
• UNC Chapel Hill, Office of Sponsored Research, Horizons, Chapel Hill ($800,000)
• Wilkes Recovery Revolution, North Wilkesboro ($799,999)
• Opportunity House, Concord ($730,400)
• NC Harm Reduction Coalition, Raleigh ($799,898)

These grants are made available as a result of a multi-state settlement with McKinsey & Company, resolving investigations into the company’s role in advising opioid companies on how to promote their drugs and profit from the opioid epidemic.

Accidental drug overdose is the number one cause of accidental deaths in North Carolina and nationwide. In North Carolina, from 2000 to 2020, more than 28,000 North Carolinians lost their lives to drug overdose.