Libby Jones Statement: SAMHSA Funding Cuts: January 2026

“We are alarmed by reports that SAMHSA has issued termination notices for hundreds of grants supporting mental health care and substance use prevention, treatment and recovery, with early estimates approaching $2 billion. This is a developing situation and we are still confirming which programs and communities are affected. But one thing is already clear: sudden cancellations of lifesaving services will cause immediate harm. 
 
These grants don’t fund paperwork. They fund people and access: clinicians and peer support, crisis response, evidence-based treatment, recovery services and overdose prevention. SAMHSA’s own priorities include preventing substance misuse, expanding crisis services, improving access to evidence-based treatment and supporting long-term recovery. Pulling support from local communities does the opposite. It strips communities of the capacity to deliver care. 
 
Congress just reauthorized key federal substance use disorder programs through fiscal year 2030 in the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025, signed December 1, 2025. That bipartisan action reflected a shared recognition that communities need stable, predictable tools to prevent overdose and sustain recovery. Abrupt terminations undermine that stability, disrupt care for people currently receiving services and jeopardize the progress communities have fought to achieve. 
 
The evidence is not ambiguous. Medications for opioid use disorder work. They reduce overdose and all-cause mortality and community naloxone distribution reduces overdose deaths. SAMHSA reporting on State Opioid Response grants also documents improvements in housing stability, employment and reduced substance use and related harms among people served. 
 
Federal leaders must immediately disclose which grants were terminated, why and how they will prevent interruptions for people currently in care. Communities cannot absorb sudden losses in prevention, treatment and recovery services without immediate and lasting harm. When risk moves fast, cutting proven supports is not a paper budget decision. It is a life-and-death decision for real families and it will set America back." 
 
-Libby Jones, Associate Vice President, GHAI's Overdose Prevention Initiative