**Legislation will provide $1 billion in funding to address the opioid epidemic**  

**Kuster, co-chair of the Bipartisan Task Force to Address the Heroin Epidemic, urged House and Senate leadership for the inclusion of funding**

Today, Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02), co-founder and co-chair of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic, applauded final passage of the 21^st Century Cures Act in the Senate. The 21st Century Cures Act is comprehensive legislation intended to improve and coordinate medical innovation and research at the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Importantly, the legislation includes $1 billion in funding to support efforts to tackle the opioid epidemic. Last month, Kuster led a letter to House and Senate leadership calling for the inclusion of funding to address the opioid crisis. Yesterday, on the House floor, Kuster urged the Senate to pass this legislation and send it President Obama’s desk for his signature.

“Sadly, far too many families and communities in New Hampshire and across the country are familiar with the devastating toll of the opioid epidemic,” said Congresswoman Kuster. “The 21^st Century Cures Act is a strong recognition of the need to treat the addiction crisis like the public health emergency that it is. This legislation will help get those on the frontlines of the epidemic the resources they need to support education, prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts. I look forward to working with my colleagues – both Democratic and Republican – to get this funding to where it can do the most good as quickly as possible.”

The Cures Act authorizes a total of $1 billion, including $500 million in each of Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018 to address the opioid epidemic. The funds are to be provided to state agencies that are on the frontlines of the effort to combat the opioid crisis. The grants will be awarded directly to the states and are intended to supplement existing efforts funded via grants previously provided through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Those programs are broadly applicable to treatment, prevention, education, and recovery.  All states will be entitled to funding, but the amounts will be prioritized by incidence and prevalence of substance use disorder.

Congresswoman Kuster has been at the forefront of the fight to address the heroin and opioid crisis at the federal level and in New Hampshire, and she has been an outspoken advocate for the need to support medical, law enforcement, treatment, and recovery efforts.

Kuster has hosted numerous roundtables with law enforcement, treatment providers, and recovery experts throughout New Hampshire and brought the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic to New Hampshire for a field hearing to hear directly from local stakeholders. She supported the passage of 18 legislative items targeting the opioid epidemic, many of which were championed by the Task Force that Kuster co-founded. In recognition of her leadership on this issue, Kuster was appointed to the conference committee tasked with producing the final version of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) – a role typically reserved for more senior members.

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