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$16 million federal grant targets rural opioid addiction
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By ISAAC CONSTANS
Capital News Service
LANSING — The state plans to use part of an incoming $16 million federal grant to help prevent and treat opioid addiction in underserved rural areas. The money comes through the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016, which promised funds to all 50 states to fight the growing epidemic linked to prescription painkillers. Michigan received the seventh-largest aid package. The state’s 1,980 opioid-related deaths in 2015 were also the seventh-highest mark in the country. In addition to rural expansion of a program that offers medicine and other treatment to opioid addicts, known as Medication Assisted Treatment, University of Michigan opioid research funding will be enhanced.