KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that Tennessee will receive $3.4 million over the course of four years to combat prescription drug abuse and overdose.
Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) responded to the announcement by saying the money will be a “big boost” in the fight against prescription drug abuse, which affects about 5% of Tennesseans.
Tennessee was one of 16 states to receive funding under the agency’s Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention for States program.
“Tennessee has been working hard to fight this fast-growing drug problem, but we are losing more than a thousand Tennesseans a year to drug overdoses,” said Alexander.
Alexander held a roundtable event Friday, where CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. announced the grant. The event was held to discuss ways public health officials health care providers, law enforcement, and families can work together to reverse the prescription drug abuse epidemic in Tennessee.
He said the grant will allow the state to improve its programs and monitor prescription painkiller use in the hardest-hit communities of the state.
