Opioid Funding Secured by Portman Through 21st Century CURES Law Making a Difference in Stark County

MASSILLON, OH – Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) participated in an opioid roundtable discussion with CommQuest Services leadership and local community leaders. Following the roundtable, Portman toured the Deliverance House II, a residential treatment program for women and children. Portman helped secure $1 billion in the bipartisan 21st Century CURES Act, $200,000 which was awarded to CommQuest to implement the Mom and Me program and will now be used to help start the Mom and Me program focusing on pregnant women who are addicted to opioids.

 “I had a productive meeting with CommQuest Recovery Services’ leadership, as well as, community leaders today to discuss how the opioid epidemic is impacting the community of Massillon,” said Portman. “CommQuest Recovery Services is making terrific use of the funding they received through the 21^st Century CURES Act. Their comprehensive approach through their Mom and Me program is exactly what is needed to help turn the tide of the opioid epidemic in Ohio. I’m working to do more at the federal level to help our communities combat this crisis by proposing legislation like my STOP Act that will help on the front end by keeping more synthetic drugs like fentanyl out of Ohio. This problem won’t be solved at the federal level, and I will continue to help local groups like the ones I met with today see that they have the support and funding they need to continue their good work.”

Portman has been a leader in the fight for more funding to combat this crisis. In addition to his work helping to secure $1 billion in new funding to fight opioid abuse in the CURES Act, he also worked to secure $181 million annually in discretionary spending for new programs through his bipartisan CARA, and approximately $3 billion in new opioid funding in the most recent bipartisan funding agreement.

Recently, Portman introduced the bipartisan CARA 2.0 Act. This bill will build on the success of CARA, provide additional resources to help turn the tide of addiction, and put in place policy reforms that will strengthen the federal government’s response to this crisis. Portman also recently introduced the bipartisan Synthetics Trafficking & Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act, which is designed to help stop dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil from being shipped through our borders to drug traffickers here in the United States. The bill recently passed the House of Representatives and is expected to be considered by the Senate in the coming weeks.

Photos from the event are below: