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Fargo Cass Public Health Receives Funding to Reduce Opioid Abuse & Overdose Deaths

Fargo Cass Public Health has received a grant from the North Dakota Department of Human Services’ Behavioral

08/08/2017 3:00 p.m.

Fargo Cass Public Health has received a grant from the North Dakota Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Division to address opioid abuse and overdose deaths. Five communities were awarded grants after demonstrating a need for funding, as well as the capacity to implement evidence-based prevention, treatment and recovery strategies.

The grant will support the Mayors’ Blue Ribbon Commission on Addiction’s locally-driven, coordinated response to the opioid crisis and will be used for a variety of interventions, including increasing the availability and use of naloxone to prevent overdose deaths and increasing access to medication-assisted treatment.

This grant award is a timely development. Just last week, the federal Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis released its interim report and called for enhanced access to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT). According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the most recent data estimates that 142 Americans die every day from a drug overdose. In 2016, the Cass County Coroner reported 31 opioid-related overdose deaths and 14 so far this year.

Fargo Cass Public Health will receive a total of $180,000 to implement these strategies, starting this month.

Visit North Dakota Department of Human Services for more information.