INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee was expected Wednesday evening to approve a proposed $800,000 grant program to tackle the opioid crisis. The money comes from the nationwide opioid settlement.
The proposed partnership between the Marion County Coroner’s Office and the Office of Public Health and Safety would fund awards to organizations addressing access to opioid use treatment, prevention, and recovery - especially in communities of color and underserved populations in Indianapolis. The program was announced at news conference at the mayor’s office Wednesday morning.
"I personally saw many lives lost,” said City-County Councilor Keith Graves. “It is important to remember for every person that we lose, there's an entire family behind them that is also suffering."
"I lost a niece to a fentanyl overdose just a year ago, 24 years old, and it just touches so many families,” said Mayor Joe Hogsett.
The Marion County Coroner's Office reports a record of more than 800 deaths from drug overdoses in Indianapolis in 2022.
"All of these overdose deaths are due in part to the influx of fentanyl in the drug supply that is flooding our nation,” said Marion County Chief Deputy Coroner Alfie McGinty. “This means that we must address prevention, outreach, and provide services to reach our communities, to increase education, awareness, and harm reduction and meet the community members where they are."
Eskenazi Health addiction specialist Dr. Maria Robles said opioid use disorder is prevalent in every area of health care, in every community.
“It’s not so different than people using alcohol to cope with it,” said Robles. “The problem is that it is deadlier faster, right? So, people can use opiates once. People can use fentanyl once and they can die of an overdose."
Robles said communities must invest in wraparound services to effectively address the opioid crisis.
"I'm a doctor, so I can provide medications,” she said. “I can provide therapy. I cannot provide housing. I cannot provide food. I'm not a peer recovery coach. So, I can't provide that experience-based information. So, making sure that somebody has everything that they need is the only way that they're going to succeed."
Wednesday night, the council's Public Safety Committee approved the mayor's budget, including funding to fight addiction. The full City-County Council will consider the proposal on May 8.