CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Nearly two dozen parties have applied for substance abuse treatment funding through the Ryan Brown Addiction Prevention and Recovery Fund, according to state Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch.
Crouch told members of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance Monday they have received 24 applications for additional treatment bed services. The DHHR will be making final decisions on applications within the next week.
“Those applications have been reviewed. They’ve been preliminary scored. They will then go, this week, to the Office of Drug Control Policy where we have a committee to make final decisions on those applications,” Crouch said.
The fund is currently below the anticipated $24 million, Crouch told lawmakers.
“We ended up out of the total of $39 million, after attorneys fees and other transfers, being at $21.6 million,” he said.
In April, the state Legislature passed a bill to create the Brown Fund to help with substance abuse recovery. The fund was named after Ryan Brown who died of a heroin overdose at the Charleston Town Center Mall in April 2014.
The new law will allow the state DHHR to collect grants and gifts from public and private sources.
Before Brown died, he went through three detox only programs and was on the waiting list for two long term programs. The law focuses on funding for people who may not have private insurance, Medicare or medicaid.
Some facilities will expand existing services through these funds and start working with private groups to start new facilities if necessary.