Four state agencies were each awarded federal grants for improving prevention and treatment services in Arkansas. Each agency is collaboratively partnering to ensure successful programs. The grants were awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, part of the U.S. Department of Justice, under the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program
The Office of Arkansas Drug Director received a near million dollar grant for the purpose of creating a statewide data-sharing infrastructure with a single repository/database accessible by law enforcement, criminal justice, and healthcare stakeholders promoting coordination of Opioid Use Disorder prevention and treatment intervention.
Public Safety, Behavioral Health, and Public Health Information-sharing Partnerships
• Grant Award: 2018-AR-BX-K005
• Award Amount: $999,979.00
• Project Period: 10/01/2018—9/30/2021
The Arkansas Community Correction agency grant award will allow the ACC to establish the capacity for technology-assisted treatment and recovery services in 15 rural counties. The grant provides funding to purchase hardware, software, and increase the bandwidth in the community supervision offices as well as hire three new Alcohol and Drug Counselors. Substance use disorder treatment services availability will be increased in the target locations. ACC has identified the following counties to be served; Randolph, Poinsett, Fulton, Franklin, Lafayette, Sharp, Lawrence, Madison, Yell, Dallas, Conway, Grant, Jackson, Mississippi, and Arkansas.
Technology-assisted Treatment Projects
• Grant Award: 2018-AR-BX-K005
• Award Amount: $999,817
• Project Period: 10/01/2018-09/30/2021
The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration’s grant includes statewide planning, coordination, and implementation projects in partnership with the Arkansas State Drug Director’s Office. The objective is to address opioid misuse/abuse in Arkansas through a cross-agency planning process. The projected outcome is a comprehensive opioid statewide plan to implement projects that support local communities. The planning partners are DFA-IGS, State Drug Director’s Office, Administrative Office of the Courts, Probation and Parole, Child Welfare, Law Enforcement, and County/City officials. The first year of the project includes the planning and submission of the comprehensive opioid statewide plan.
Implementation will be based on the final plan.
Statewide Planning, Coordination, and Implementation projects
• Grant Award: 2018-AR-BX-K085
• Award Amount: $1,300,000
• Project Period: 10/01/2018-09/30/2021 ($100,000 for planning phase and $1,200,000 implementation)
The funding that the Arkansas Department of Health received will support the Arkansas Prescription Drug Monitoring Program’s (AR PDMP) efforts to better identify patients at high-risk for opioid overdose. Merging the AR PDMP database with emergency department and hospitalization overdose data and death certificate data will support the creation of an opioid overdose risk prediction tool. These linked data will also allow PDMP personnel to better answer other questions relative to prescription drug abuse, such as better understanding of factors related to abuse among children and adolescents.
Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) Implementation and Enhancement Projects
• Grant Award: 2018-PM-BX-0012
• Award Amount: $750,000
• Project Period: 10/01/2018 – 9/30/2020