Friday, November 22, 2024
11/22/2024
Mississippi's SSA, The State Department of Mental Health, Bureau of Behavioral Health (DMH) has been charged with the implementation of the State's Opioid and Stimulant Use Disorder Services (OSUD). DMH has nearly fifty years of experience in addressing the State's Mental and Substance Use needs. MS's population, estimated at 2,939,690 in 2022 (US Census Bureau 2023), is projected to increase annually by an average of 1% over the next 30 years. Approximately 23% of the MS population is under 18 years old and 17% are age 65 or older; 56% of MS’s population is non-Hispanic white, and 38% is African American. The latter is the highest proportion of any state. Increasingly, African Americans in MS are hospitalized with opioid-related diagnoses. Fifty-one percent of the state are female and 3.5% of the state’s population are LGBT (UCLA School of Law Williams Institute, n.d.). MS has a federally recognized tribe, i.e., 12,990 members of the MS Band of Choctaw Indians. MS is ranked seventh in prescribing rates for opioids, with 76.8 prescriptions per 100 persons. The number of buprenorphine prescriptions increased by 58% between 2012. MS has seen significant increases in extremely potent high-MME (morphine milligram equivalent) prescriptions (mostly oxycodone). Prescription duration (days’ supply) is also unusually high. This combination has created serious overdose risks for MS residents. There were 10.9 opioid-related overdose deaths per 100,000 persons reported to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN) in 2020. Drug overdoses in MS increased by 133% between 2011 and 2018. Also, coroner’s report drug poisoning deaths rising from 256 in 2017 to 342 in 2018 and MS Poison Control fielded over 304 opioid-related calls and 268 amphetamine-related calls. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) data revealed that naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal medication, was administered 2,540 times during 2021, which is 52.5% since 2019 at (1,334). Ranked atop nearly every negative US social indicator, MS is often aptly compared to less developed nations. MS has the lowest ranking of any state on the Human Development (HD) Index (0.866), a numerical measure of health, education, and income. MS’s current HD score is behind that of the US in the late 1980s. MS has the lowest life expectancy of any state, the highest rate of adults 25 or older who have not completed high school or earned a high school equivalency degree, and among the lowest average per capita income ($23,121 vs. $32,397 for the US). An estimated 20% of the state’s population and 30% of its children live in poverty and 15.4 % of the population do not have insurance. Poverty is racialized in MS, with 46% of African American MS children in poverty vs. 15% white. Despite the vast gaps in services, MS will continue to build on the MS STR, SOR I, II, and III Grants, to continue the fight against the disparities that hinder our communities, workforce, and service system. It is the intent of MS-SOR IV to sustain the efforts that have made positive impacts on the OSUD crisis in MS, while continuing to reduce gaps in treatment via a variety of MAT services. MS will continue to be innovative in overcoming service disparities through recovery housing, contingency management, treatment retention and a renewed TeleMAT.
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).
