Addiction Professionals of North Carolina Applauds Biden Administration's Historic Budget for Substance Use Services

RALEIGH, N.C., March 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Earlier this week, the White House released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget request to Congress. The Budget requests $127.3 billion in discretionary funding for Health and Human Services (HHS), a $26.9 billion (26.8%) increase over the FY21 enacted level. HHS governs addiction services through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Addiction Professionals of North Carolina (APNC) applauds the President's commitment to prioritize the full continuum of care for addiction services (prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support) by proposing an increase of $4.2 billion in SAMHSA over the FY22 enacted budget.

We are especially pleased to see a 10% recovery-set aside in the proposal, which will ensure a sustained focus on recovery services throughout the state, amounting to ~$9M in additional, dedicated funding for addiction recovery support in North Carolina.

Finally, we are extremely pleased with the President's recommendation to remove the stigmatizing language of "abuse" from our federal agencies governing addiction services. "APNC has shifted its language around substance use, as have most of our members. Seeing the change on a federal level is an excellent step toward decreasing stigma around substance use," says APNC's Executive Director, Sarah Potter. The proposal recommends changing the "Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration" to "Substance Use And Mental Health Services Administration." The Administration further recommended changing the "Center for Substance Abuse Treatment" and "Center for Substance Abuse Prevention" to "Center for Substance Use Services"and "Center for Substance Use Prevention Services," respectively.

In 2019, ~600,00 North Carolinians suffered from substance use disorders, a number that increased dramatically during the pandemic. The number of overdoses alone has risen more than 40% in North Carolina since 2019. We encourage our Congressional delegates to support this budget which will positively impact the lives of the people affected by substance use disorder. Reach out to Senators Tillis and Burr as well as your Congressional Delegates to let them know you support this budget.

APNC is working with our federal lobbyist and our national partners to drive better health policy, adequate resources and funding, and refinement of policies that impact the SUD field. APNC is the only North Carolina professional membership organization with a legislative voice that advocates exclusively on behalf of addiction professionals, organizations, and the communities they serve.

Social Media:

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Contact:
Morgan Coyner
Communications Director
[email protected]
804-317-8107

SOURCE Addiction Professionals of North Carolina