Federal cuts endanger progress fighting opioids, say health leaders

GLEN OAKS, Queens -- The fight against opioid drug addiction and deaths has succeeded at lowering numbers in the last two years, according to federal and state statistics.

Still, many drug treatment experts and professionals are concerned about the months and years ahead. 

That was the upshot at a gathering they held at Zucker Hillside Hospital on Tuesday. The group, the Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates, or COMPA, said that federal rules adopted in the last two years or so have helped to lower the occurrence of overdoses and deaths, but that funding cuts threaten to jeopardize progress. 

Representative of that progress is something on the corner of Decatur Street and Broadway in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, about 15 miles west of the drug treatment conference. On that Brooklyn corner is a vending machine that distributes overdose prevention and treatment items, free of charge. 

Itzel Yanez, 26, was checking out the machine that was set up two years ago by the city's health department for public use. 

"I'm supposed to carry Narcan," Yanez, a youth counselor, said. She added that she, or anyone, can receive Narcan from the machine for free. In her case, it's for potential use with the young people she serves.

The machine's presence, Yanez said, has been among a variety of resources in the neighborhood that have lessened the opioid problem. 

"Growing up, there were a lot of people on the streets, high on drugs," she said, "and I don't see that now."

Regarding any possible reductions in drug abuse prevention, she said, "Instead of going two steps back, we need to progress."

Even though there's no official word currently about discontinuing or scaling back the use of the free, public vending machine, the possibility, as well as concern about it, is very real. The New York State commissioner of the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, echoed Yanez's concern. 

"I'm really worried that if we take those investments away, that we'll take steps backward," she said in an interview, after addressing the drug treatment professionals' conference.   

Dr. Cunningham pointed out that drug overdose deaths are down. In the last two years, the reduction has been 26.9 percent nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control. New York State's numbers, said Cunningham, are even higher. 

Meanwhile, even though federal Health and Human Services data doesn't show that that progress is slowing or reversing, Dr. Cunningham and other experts at Tuesday's conference agreed that the risk of losing progress is quite real.

They noted that so far this year, the federal government has frozen at least $11 billion in drug treatment funds. The Trump Administration has also restructured the federal agency that manages substance abuse. 

Also, many of the drug treatment professionals at the Queens symposium expressed concern about proposed cuts to Medicaid that are in the federal budget legislation dubbed the Big, Beautiful Bill. The U.S. Senate is now debating the bill after the House of Representatives passed it last month. 

Cuts to Medicaid, said Cunningham, would be a major setback against fighting opioid addiction. 

"About two-thirds of people with addiction who get treatment have Medicaid," Dr. Cunningham said. "So any cuts to Medicaid will have an outsize impact on people with addiction." 

Many of the symposium participants specialize in providing methadone to patients addicted to heroin or other opioids. They said that they serve at least 400,000 patients nationwide. With the majority of those patients on Medicaid, any major loss of that aid could result in a major crisis, they said. 

They encouraged people who are concerned about the issue to contact members of Congress and federal health officials to help ensure that Medicaid funding remains.

For its part, the federal Department of Health and Human Services gave a statement for this article. The statement further supported that addiction treatment and prevention numbers continue to move in the right direction. HHS is led by Cabinet Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 

"Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership," said Press Secretary Emily Hilliard in her statement, "HHS will continue to fund addiction-related programs and services to ensure taxpayer dollars are reaching the communities and providers who need them most. HHS will continue to support evidence-based treatment and prevention to deliver real results for the American people."