Boulder, Larimer receive opioid abatement grants

DENVER — The Colorado Department of Human Services, Office of Behavioral Health, has awarded funding to 17 county jails to continue or initiate medication-assisted treatment for people with opioid-use disorder. Larimer and Boulder counties are among those to receive grants.

The state is awarding nearly $1.9 million in total to the 17 county sheriff’s offices that applied for funding through Sept. 29, 2020. Medication-assisted treatment combines medication with behavioral therapy and is considered to be the most effective way to treat opioid-use disorder. Up to this point, the state has funded medication-assisted treatment services in five of the 17 county jails: Boulder, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Pueblo. Nearly 500 people received medication-assisted treatment before or upon release from jail through this funding since 2017.

“In Colorado we continue to increase the availability of services statewide for those who need it, including treatment for people who are incarcerated, in many cases as a result of their addiction,” Robert Werthwein, director of the Office of Behavioral Health, said in a statement. “We know that the risk of opioid overdose drastically increases after a period of abstinence such as incarceration, and intervening at this juncture is key to our efforts to reduce overdoses.”

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The 17 counties being funded and dollar amounts are:

• Arapahoe — $150,000
• Boulder — $150,000
• Conejos — $60,000
• Denver — $150,000
• Douglas — $150,000
• Eagle — $60,000
• El Paso — $150,000
• Fremont — $150,000
• Garfield — $100,000
• Gilpin — $60,000
• Jefferson — $60,000
• La Plata — $60,000
• Larimer — $150,000
• Mesa — $150,000
• Moffat — $60,000
• Pueblo — $150,000
• Summit — $60,000