The Trump administration proposed $300,000 in new grants for African-American communities on Tuesday, as the administration seeks to bolster addiction treatment options in rural communities.
The White House said in a statement that the grants, which were initially announced in January, will fund a pilot program to offer medical treatments to communities with an addiction crisis and help them establish their own addiction recovery teams.
The funds will be administered through a grant program called National Recovery Initiatives, or NRIs, which are aimed at providing support to African- Americans struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, according to the White House.
The National Recovery Initiative is the latest effort by the Trump administration to combat the opioid crisis.
The opioid epidemic is the deadliest in U.S. history, with over 1.4 million Americans dead and more than 6 million suffering from drug-related complications, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The federal government has struggled to address the problem, which has claimed more lives than any other.
President Donald Trump’s administration announced $300 Million for African Americans in January.
It was also recently announced that President Trump’s nominee for deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Scott Gottlieb, is being investigated by the House for allegedly giving improper treatment to a woman in his care.
Gottliebs office released a statement late Monday, saying the former HHS official had a longstanding relationship with the Centers of Disease Control, and that he had not given any advice on how to manage her pain.
In January, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on the opioid epidemic, which featured testimony from the heads of the National Alliance of State and Territorial Governments, the American Association of Addiction Psychiatry, the National Association of County Behavioral Health Officers, and the National Conference of State Legislatures.
