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State proposes $5 million to heroin abuse treatment

HARRISBURG (WPMT) — Pennsylvania’s acting Secretary of Drug and Alcohol Programs is proposing $5 million in grant money to go directly towards what ...

HARRISBURG (WPMT) -- Pennsylvania's acting Secretary of Drug and Alcohol Programs is proposing $5 million in grant money to go directly towards what is being referred to as "one of the worst epidemics" ever seen.

Secretary Gary Tennis is hoping the state can spare the money out of its $33.8 billion budget, which still needs to be proposed by the state. Tennis plans on using the money to battle a growing heroin and opioid abuse crisis. The money would be spread to counties across Pennsylvania.

According to Tennis' proposal, at least 80 percent of grant money will go towards drug treatment and medicine. No more than 20 percent will be devoted to drug education, training, or data intake and output. Tennis was unavailable for comment Monday.

"Those of us in the field would like to see ten times that number," Andy Sullivan, President of Mazitti and Sullivan Counseling, a Harrisburg drug treatment center said. "But we understand the constraints of the budgets."

Dauphin County spends $3 million of its annual budget on drug treatment, county commissioner George Hartwick says. He expects that total to run dry by the start of May, and will be asking the state for an extra $150,000-$200,000 to get through the fiscal year, which ends June 30. Drug addiction patients can cost the state anywhere from $180 to $420 per day, he estimates.

"Three million (dollars) is drop in the bucket for what our needs are in county like Dauphin," Hartwick says.

In 2013, the state attorney general's office estimated there were 40,000 heroin users in Pennsylvania.

"When you see people dying at a young age, in numbers you've never seen before, it's an epidemic," Sullivan said. "It's a crisis."

Tennis' proposal still needs to be approved. If Governor Wolf's budget is passed by the Legislature, money will start going towards counties on July 1.

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