SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The northwest U.S. state of Alaska will receive over 10 million U.S. dollars from federal funds to help its fight against worsening opioid epidemic, the local KTUU TV channel reported Wednesday.
It said the money is part of a 1 billion-dollar grant dispersed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to address the looming threat of opioids plaguing the U.S. as a national public health emergency.
More than 4.027 million dollars to be used to help public access to medication-based treatment for opioid addiction, while about 6.386 million dollars will go to fund health treatment centers in Alaska to treat substance use disorder and mental health problems, said the TV report.
The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said that while opioid use has dropped for the second year nationwide, Alaska has witnessed an increase in opioid use and subsequent opioid-related deaths.
Alaska state officials said in August that deaths in the state caused by opioids, specifically the synthetic opioid fentanyl, have increased over the past year.
A total of 623 opioid overdose deaths were reported in Alaska between 2010 and 2017, growing 77 percent, said the statistics by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Section of Epidemiology.
In 2017 alone, 108 people died in Alaska from opioid-related causes, most of them by overdoses, and a good chunk from fentanyl.
Alaska Governor Bill Walker announced a disaster declaration on the state's opioid epidemic on Feb. 15, 2017, which he said "is an important first step in addressing our public health crisis."
Alaska has recorded one of the highest per-capita death rates for prescription opioid overdoses in the U.S. since 2012, according to official data.
