Trone Announces Garrett County Drug-Free Communities Coalition to Receive $50,000 from White House Drug Policy Office to Prevent Youth Substance Use
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2021
Contact: Hannah Muldavin, Hannah.Muldavin@mail.house.gov
Trone Announces Garrett County Drug-Free Communities Coalition to Receive $50,000 from White House Drug Policy Office to Prevent Youth Substance Use
Washington, D.C. — Today, Congressman David Trone (MD-06) announced that the Garrett County Health Department would receive $50,000 for the Garrett County Drug-Free Communities Coalition from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to prevent youth substance use.
The ONDCP announced 65 new and competing continuation grants for Community-Based Coalition Enhancement Grants to Address Local Drug Crisis (CARA) Program. The funding will enhance the efforts of current or former Drug-Free Communities (DFC) program recipients to prevent opioid, methamphetamine, and prescription drug use among youth ages 12-18 across the United States.
“Preventing substance use among our young people is a critical component to fighting the opioid epidemic and keeping our communities safe,” said Congressman David Trone, founder of the Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force in Congress. “This grant from the White House will help provide Garrett County with the tools it needs to apply the evidence-based prevention strategies we know will result in healthier outcomes for our young people.”
“We know that delaying substance use until after adolescence decreases the likelihood of a person developing a substance use disorder,” said ONDCP Acting Director Regina Labelle. “It is also important that we consider social determinants of health such as poverty, homelessness, and other conditions as we build effective prevention strategies. This funding will help support the Biden-Harris Administration’s mission to expand evidence-based prevention, treatment, and harm reduction services by providing our local partners in Garrett County, Maryland with the resources they need to reduce youth substance use.”
The CARA grant program is a partnership between ONDCP and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It aims to reduce youth substance use by providing funding to local coalitions to help them apply evidence-based prevention strategies to the emerging challenges in their communities.
Background on the Community-Based Coalition Enhancement Grants to Address Local Drug Crisis Program
The purpose of this federal grant program is to enhance the efforts of current or former Drug-Free Communities (DFC) recipients to prevent opioid, methamphetamine, and/or prescription drug use among youth ages 12-18 in communities throughout the United States. This program also seeks to change the culture and context regarding the acceptability of youth use and misuse of these substances.
Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Appropriations, Veterans’ Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees in the 117th Congress and previously served on the Education and Labor and Foreign Affairs Committees. In Congress, Trone is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the mental health and addiction crises, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research.
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