By Jennifer Porter Gore
This story was first published in Word In Black.
Black communities facing a spiraling opioid crisis are now in the crosshairs of drastic federal cuts to a life-saving initiative to combat drug overdoses.
Last week, President Donald Trump delayed funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) critical Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) program — a $140 million initiative proven to combat drug deaths. This move, part of sweeping cuts to over 2,600 federal programs, comes via executive order and targets drug harm reduction and safety services vital to saving lives.
RELATED: The State of Black America’s Drug Overdose Epidemic
The timing couldn’t be more devastating for Black America. While recent CDC data offered a glimmer of hope — showing the first significant national drop in overdose deaths since 2019, with a nearly 27% reduction in opioid fatalities in 2024 — Black death rates are still higher than whites.
Opioid overdoses among Black Americans exploded 44% from 2019 to 2020 alone. That year, for the first time ever, more Black Americans died from opioid overdoses than white Americans. The crisis is worst among Black youth ages 15-24, who saw overdose deaths surge by a horrifying 86% in 2020.
Now, public health experts are sounding the alarm over the Trump administration’s decision to jeopardize the OD2A program, which launched in 2019 during Trump’s first term. Freezing the initiative, which helps distribute anti-overdose drugs like naloxone and provides funds for harm-reduction and treatment outreach, could trigger a deadly reversal of progress in the fight against opioid-related deaths.
“This deadly executive order threatens the safety and civil rights of millions of people with mental health and/or substance use disorders and other people who use drugs, as well as unhoused folks who already face many dangers,” says Laura Guzman, executive director of the National Harm Reduction Coalition. “What we need to save lives, improve public health, and make entire communities safer is [to] focus on and invest in evidence-based solutions, including housing and health care — not handcuffs and budget cuts.”
An Unclear Future
Public health officials nationwide say that many programs have been paused ahead of the Sept. 1 deadline when current program funding runs out. CDC staff says it’s unclear how local public health and addiction programs will continue operating when roughly half their funding is up in the air.
“The announcement [of delays] alone could trigger layoffs and program shutdowns,” one CDC staffer told NPR. “It could really start a chain reaction that’s hard to come back from.”
40% of Americans have lost someone to an overdose.
More than 320 scientists, drug policy experts, and academics raised that point in a letter sent to House and Senate leaders in May, when rumors circulated that Trump was about to take action that would affect the program.
“Overdose has touched every corner of the country; more than 40% of Americans have lost someone to a drug overdose,” the scientists wrote, stressing that, despite the declines, substance use disorder still grips millions of Americans.
“In 2023, 48.5 million teenagers and adults struggled with SUD, and 58.7 million adults experienced a mental health condition,” the experts wrote. “Now is not the time to reduce these investments in effective SUD and mental health care.”
Counselors who work directly with substance use disorder patients also point out that cutting these programs will harm those who need them most.
“The biggest thing about [treating] addiction is being able to admit it and having a safe space within the treatment facility, with a trusted professional, to make the admission is imperative,” says Chardé Hollins, an Ohio-based licensed clinical social worker. “If you cut the funding that allows for those relationships to be established and nurtured, then it will undoubtedly impact those who seek, and ultimately go into, treatment.”
The Impact of Medicaid Cuts
The administration says it will continue funding the OD2A program, for now. But NPR reports that payment will be made “in increments” instead of the usual single annual payment, according to a White House statement. NPR reports it received a separate statement from the Department of Health and Human Services saying the CDC “remains committed” to OD2A funding because it “directly aligns with administration priorities.”
But the tax and spending plan Trump signed into law earlier this month — the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” which includes deep cuts to Medicaid and other government programs that provide drug treatment — is expected to cause even more harm. In 2021, 2% of Medicaid enrollees were being treated for opioid use disorder, which equals just over 1 million adults.
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a panel of addiction specialists at the Boston University School of Medicine wrote that the bill “will cause approximately 156,000 people to lose access to treatment for opioid use disorder.” They also projected that approximately 1,000 additional overdose deaths could occur each year because of the cuts to Medicaid.
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