Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Susan Collins, Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Angus King announced that the Maine Department of Public Safety has been awarded $760,000 through the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Community Oriented Policing Services’ (COPS) Anti-Heroin Task Force (AHTF) program to help combat the opioid crisis in Maine.  This funding is one of only 13 AHTF awards made nationwide this year.                                                                                                                                      

“We must not relent in our efforts to address the ongoing opioid crisis, which affects far too many families in Maine,” said Senators Collins and King. “This important funding will help to ensure that Maine’s law enforcement officers have the resources they need to help keep our communities safe and effectively address this public health emergency.”

AHTF provides three years of funding directly to state-level law enforcement agencies in areas with high per capita rates of primary treatment admissions for heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil, and other opioids. Specifically, this funding will support efforts to locate or investigate illicit activities, through statewide collaboration, related to the distribution of heroin, fentanyl, or carfentanil or the unlawful distribution of prescription opioids.

Senator Collins successfully secured a nearly 10% increase in total funding for the COPS office to help combat the ongoing nationwide drug crisis through the Fiscal Year 2020 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) funding bill. This included $35 million for the AHTF program.

This year, Senator Collins announced that the government funding package—which Senator King also voted for—included a number of substance use disorder policies to respond to the ongoing opioid crisis.  The package was signed into law in December of 2022 and included a nearly $300 million increase in funding to specifically combat the opioid epidemic, through improving treatment and prevention efforts; finding alternative pain medications; addressing workforce needs, especially in rural communities; and promoting research.

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