The Trump administration has abruptly cancelled hundreds of federal grants nationwide that support substance abuse treatment.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration sent termination notices to hundreds of grant recipients late on Tuesday, NPR reported. These cuts to nonprofit groups, many providing street-level care to people experiencing addiction, homelessness and mental illness, could reach roughly $2 billion, three sources told NPR.
“Waking up to nearly $2 billion in grant cancellations means frontline providers are forced to cease overdose prevention, naloxone distribution and peer recovery services immediately, leaving our communities defenseless against a raging crisis," said Ryan Hampton, founder of Mobilize Recovery. "This cruelty will be measured in lives lost, as recovery centers shutter and the safety net we built is slashed overnight. We are witnessing the dismantling of our recovery infrastructure in real time, and the administration will have blood on its hands for every preventable death that follows."
Block grants, which are awarded to states and territories for behavioral health services, were not cut. Administration officials said the programs being defunded no longer align with its priorities, according to copies of the letter that NPR reviewed. The agency wrote that it’s “adjusting its discretionary award portfolio, which includes terminating some of its awards, in order to better prioritize agency resources,” according to the letter signed by Christopher D. Carroll, principal deputy assistant secretary of the agency.
The cuts include two programs administered by the American Psychiatric Association’s Workforce Development Initiative and its foundation’s Notice. Talk. Act. at School Program
"Overnight cuts to thousands of programs nationwide are nothing short of catastrophic, placing millions of Americans with unmet mental health and substance use disorder needs at even greater risk," Dr. Theresa M. Miskimen Rivera, president of the psychiatric association, said in a statement. "Our programs, which only represent a fraction of what's been cut, establish a vital pathway for psychiatrists to serve those in need, especially in areas experiencing mental health professional shortages and in schools."
The cuts are expected to reduce access to services for mental health and substance use disorder nationwide, the leader of an advocacy group told Politico.
“This is a developing situation, and we are still confirming which programs and communities are affected,” said Libby Jones, associate vice president of the Overdose Prevention Initiative at the Global Health Advocacy Incubator. “But one thing is already clear: sudden cancellations of lifesaving services will cause immediate harm.”
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