Federal government provides millions to Delmarva’s war on heroin

The federal government pledged millions of dollars to the war against heroin and opiod addiction Monday, $13.4 million to be exact. A little less than $3 million of that will land in the Mid-Atlantic for a collaborative effort between five regional High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, Appalachia, New England, Philadelphia and Camden, New York and New Jersey and Washington and Baltimore.    

Two local counties will be part of those groups, Wicomico County, Md. under the Washington/Baltimore Area and New Castle County, Del. as part of the Philadelphia/Camden region.

The funding will be used for a new initiative to bridge the gap between law enforcement and public health officials.

Maryland is already tackling the heroin issue according to state officials, as evident by Governor Larry Hogan’s heroin and opiate taskforce. Last year alone officials said the state had over 800 deaths due to heroin and opiate overdoses.     

Dr. Michael Finegan is one of the members of that task force and explained why the rest of the counties on the Eastern Shore did not receive any federal money.

“It really had to do with the speed of response in a very short amount of time for requesting grant monies and some of the counties were not able to get their responses in quick enough,” Finegan said.

In respect to the counties that aren’t getting the federal funding, Finegan says the governor will soon be announcing major initiatives later this month to address the heroin and opiate problem across the state.    

In Delaware, Gov. Jack Markell’s office said New Castle County applied to receive money because of it’s proximity to the I-95 corridor, a hot bed for trafficking.

“There are instances where drug trafficking is occurring and happening along the corridor and that often leads them to come into New Castle County,” said Kelly Bachman, press secretary for Markell.

Bachman said the additional funding will help strengthen the states efforts that are already in effect.    

Earlier this month,  Markell announced roughly $4.5 million of state money is earmarked to address the heroin crisis next year.