Department of Justice grants $300,000,000

The Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs today announced grant awards totaling more than $300 million to help combat America’s substance use crisis, which has worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. The most recent provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that, “there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during the 12-month period ending in April 2021, an increase of 28.5% from the 78,056 deaths during the same period the year before.”

OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention are distributing millions of dollars in grant awards aimed at addressing the substance use crisis throughout the nation. In addition to these grants, OJP is awarding $34 million to help communities respond to public safety and public health emergencies, including crises that result from substance use disorders.

The various grant awards are supposed to help communities address prevention, diversion, treatment and recovery needs of those affected by substance use disorders, enhance drug and veteran treatment courts, implement residential substance use treatment programs in correctional and detention facilities and help fund prescription drug monitoring. Another piece of the funding will go to support youth affected by the opioid crisis and drug addiction, treatment for children and families impacted by the opioid epidemic, juvenile drug treatment court, and family drug court programs.