New Bedford Area Receives Addiction-Fighting Grant Funding

The Baker administration is awarding nearly $3 million to communities throughout the state in an effort to combat substance abuse.

New Bedford is one of 127 communities to benefit from the grant program, receiving $100,000. The City's Department of Public Health Director, Brenda Weis, tells WBSM News the program focuses on opioid abuse, and studying the best approaches to prevent that abuse. "...where strategies could be used to intervene and help the outcome to be better. So, we would prevent use before it starts. We'd prevent overdoses from occurring when people take too much of heroin or opioids."

Weis says the grant also covers Dartmouth, Marion, Rochester, Wareham and Westport.

The grant program is scheduled to last 4 1/2 years, and provide the New Bedford area with $450,000 in research funding.