Sen. Ossoff allocating $7 million to fight opioid abuse

ALBANY, Ga. – Thanks to work by Senator Jon Ossoff, more than seven million dollars of funding is coming to Georgia to fight opioid addiction. We spoke with Aspire Behavioral Health about the impact it could have in southwest Georgia.

Chief Operating Officer, Daniel Fleuren says that Georgia is one of the worst in the country when it comes to opioid related deaths and that help is needed.

“Georgia still ranks among the top 12. I believe it is in opioid deaths in the united states. And, as fentanyl has grown worse and worse in our area, we continue to see an increase in opioid deaths,” said Daniel Fleuren, Chief Operating Officer, Aspire Behavioral Health.

Fluern goes on to tell us, in a rural portion of the state like southwest Georgia, there’s no such thing as too much help.

“In rural Georgia, because the resources are spread so thin over a large geographic area, it’s absolutely essential that those of us already in that realm, in that field need to see some of those dollars so we can increase the number of programs, increase the number of counselors,” said Fleuren.

Regardless of how much money Aspire gets from this federal funding, they’re going to make sure that they get a say for the sake of the people they’re helping.

“Being the community service board for this particular area, we will have representation on those committees. And we want to make sure that the people we serve get the best service possible,” said Fleuren.

While it’s unclear how Aspire will be impacted by this money, it goes towards helping those who are currently struggling with opioids.

This recent federal funding is just the latest act from Senator Ossoff in combating opioid use with him signing the bipartisan Rural Opioid Abuse Prevention Act in 2022.

Brian Roche reporting.

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