A Cleveland institution has found a lifeline in the midst of federal funding cuts.
The Substance Use Disorder Center of Excellence at Case Western Reserve University – which provides training for Ohio addiction-care providers on treatment practices – will continue serving the state despite an early end to its federal funding, according to the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
The department created the center in 2023 with a $6 million federal grant as Ohio reeled from high numbers of drug overdose deaths. Its mission is “building a highly skilled workforce that can navigate the complexities of substance use, mental health and primary care integration,” according to its website. The center caters to a variety of professionals, from social workers to psychologists to doctors.
The federal dollars the center received – COVID relief money originating from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration – were meant to last through September 2025.
But at the end of March, President Donald Trump’s administration abruptly ended the grant early – along with billions of other addiction and health and human service grants. The Substance Use Disorder Center still had $2.6 million left to spend, according to Eric Wandersleben, spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
The center found a way forward, though. Wandersleben wrote in an email that the Substance Use Disorder Center of Excellence is getting “alternate funding.”
“Accordingly, its services continue to be available to Ohio’s behavioral health field,” he added.
The state is filling the gap by “repurposing” $2.6 million from an entirely different pot of federal money called State Opioid and Stimulant Response dollars, Wandersleben wrote. These dollars are meant to fight opioid use and overdoses.
In the last three years, the center has created a litany of tools for Ohio healthcare providers. They include everything from free trainings for behavioral health professionals to “quicknotes,” which are easy-to-read summaries of clinical topics such as treating young adults for opioid use disorder with medication.
It’s unclear whether work at the center ever paused, and the center is offering free training sessions throughout June. A spokesperson for Case Western Reserve University wrote in an email that it had no comment on the center’s loss and reinstatement of funding.
In the last several years, overdose deaths have decreased in Ohio. In 2020, Ohio had 45.6 unintentional drug overdose deaths per 100,000 residents. That number dropped to 39 in 2023.
