Sunday, May 11, 2025
5/11/2025
Puerto Rico's First Responders Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act Cooperative Agreement (PR FR-CARA) - The Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration (MHAASA) of Puerto Rico, which is the Single State Agency (SSA) for Puerto Rico (PR) for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SABG) and is submitting this SAMHSA First Responders – Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (PR FR-CARA) application under the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number No. SP-17-005 for 2017. The proposed project will finance training to first responders and members of other key community sectors on devices and methods for administering Naloxone for emergency treatment of opioid overdose, and the development of protocols for referral to appropriate treatment and recovery services proposed. Opioid overdose continues to be a major public health threat in Puerto Rico. It has contributed to 45 deaths during 2016 for a rate of 1.3 per 100,000. From 2000 to 2015, nearly 4,300 people died from drug overdoses of which 14.8% were females and 85.2% males. The distribution by age group is as follows: 2.3% ages 0 through 19, 47.5% ages 20 through 39, 42.0% ages 40 through 59 and 8.2% ages 60 and over. The geographic areas that have higher rates of overdose deaths are the metropolitan areas of the island which are: San Juan with 20.0%, Bayamón with 7.1%, Ponce with 6.9%, Caguas with 6.3 and Carolina with 5.0%. In terms of race, 82.0% were identified as whites, 10.6% as African Americans and 7.4% of other race, all being Hispanics. Recent reports from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) highlighted that adulterated fentanyl, which, in its legal form, is used as an analgesic prescribed for severe pain, came to Puerto Rico at the end of the 2016. This opioid-based drug is 50 times more potent than heroin and only 2 mg, which is the equivalent of 3 or 4 grains of a sachet of sugar, is enough to kill a person. The potent narcotic is distributed adulterated in the streets of PR, and nine deaths have been linked to its use in areas of Mayagüez and Manatí. Danger for Puerto Rico increases with the confirmation that the drug is being prepared in clandestine laboratories in the Dominican Republic. This scenario must be closely observed because the criminal organizations on the contiguous island could be using Puerto Rico as a bridge to distribute fentanyl to the US. This current threat is being addressed, and will be reinforced with the proposed project. The purpose of SAMHSA and its Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), stated in the First Responders – Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (FOA-p. 4) No. SP-17-005, is to “allow first responders and members of other community sectors to administer a drug or device approved or cleared under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose”. The purpose of the MHAASA, serving as the Single State Agency (SSA) for Puerto Rico under SAMHSA, is to establish and implement a coordinated multi-agency effort to train, administer and empower first responders in the use of Naloxone to prevent opioid overdoses in Puerto Rico.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).