Exclusive: Trump team withholds $140 million budgeted for fentanyl fight
Source: NPR
July 16, 2025 5:00 AM ET
The Trump administration has delayed and may cancel roughly $140 million in grants to fund fentanyl overdose response efforts, according to four staff members with close knowledge of the process at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The staffers shared detailed information with NPR about the funding disruption and potential cuts on the condition of anonymity, saying they don't have permission to speak publicly about their concerns and feared retribution from the Trump administration if identified.
"These are lives at stake," said one CDC staffer, who has a role administering the addiction grant program, known as the Overdose Data To Action program, often referred to as OD2A. "The announcement [of delays] alone could trigger layoffs and program shutdowns. It could really start a chain reaction that's hard to come back from," the CDC staffer said.
State and local public health departments fighting to lower overdose deaths from fentanyl, methamphetamines and other drugs across the U.S. describe the funds as crucial to their efforts. The last time a major national interruption of addiction care occurred, during the COVID-19 pandemic, drug deaths soared.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/07/16/nx-s1-5468535/fentanyl-trump-addiction-funding
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