Shaheen, Hassan Renew Efforts to Authorize Billions to Combat Substance Use Disorder
(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Ag-FDA Subcommittee, and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) renewed a years-long effort to authorize billions in federal funding for substance use treatment and prevention with the reintroduction of the Turn the Tide Act, which would secure over $65 billion in federal funding over the next 10 years to combat substance use disorder, both in the Granite State and across the country. In 2025, it is estimated that nearly 45,000 overdose deaths in the United States involved an opioid. As the nation continues to grapple with substance use disorder, this legislation proposes an expansion of critical treatment programs, prioritizes prevention and addresses workforce shortages to increase access to care.
“Substance use disorder impacts communities in every corner of our state, and I’ve heard from countless families who have been torn apart by this crisis,” said Senator Shaheen. “We’ve made great strides in combatting substance use in New Hampshire, but there is more work to be done. I’m proud to reintroduce this critical legislation that will secure long-term investments in prevention and treatment to ensure we keep up the fight against the substance use crisis for years to come.”
“We’ve made important progress to reduce overdose deaths in New Hampshire, but the fentanyl crisis continues to devastate families across our state. We cannot let up now and must keep doing everything we can to keep fighting,” said Senator Hassan. “This bipartisan bill will strengthen prevention and recovery programs, address workforce shortages that make it harder for people to get care, and help communities save lives.”
Below is a brief summary of the Turn the Tide Act:
- Increases State Opioid Response (SOR) treatment grant funding to $5.5 billion per year over the next five years and provides needed flexibility so that providers can treat patients who have non-opioid related substance use disorders, such as methamphetamine or other substances.
- Expands the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Recovery Housing Program and ensures states receive more consistent funding from it to support patients in recovery.
- Establishes a new grant program modeled off of the successful Manchester Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team program to assist children who have been exposed to trauma, often as a result of substance use disorders among family members or friends.
- Requires that private insurers and Medicare Part D plans cover Naloxone without any co-pay or deductible requirements and prohibits insurers from setting up administrative barriers, like prior authorization, that delay start of medication-assisted treatment.
As Ranking Member of Senate Appropriations Ag-FDA Subcommittee, Shaheen remains committed to continuing her decades-long fight against substance use in New Hampshire, and the reintroduction of the Turn the Tide Act is the latest of these efforts. In February, Shaheen led the bipartisan End Veterans Overdose Act to expand access to naloxone and other overdose reversal agents to our veterans, which went on to unanimously clear the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee—a significant step toward passing the bill into law. Shaheen also annually leads a bipartisan resolution with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to recognize National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day. In the Fiscal Year 2026 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations bill that was signed into law, Shaheen secured provisions that will ensure veterans can better access health care, including substance use disorder treatment. In 2025, Senator Shaheen introduced the Keeping Drugs Out of School Act alongside Senator Grassley to establish a new grant program to educate students about the dangers of synthetic opioids.
Shaheen and Hassan also led efforts during the Biden Administration to prevent a steep cliff in State Opioid Response grant funding, securing a commitment to protect New Hampshire funding from Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra. Since 2018, Senators Shaheen and Hassan have secured approximately $140 million from these grants for New Hampshire to combat the opioid epidemic in New Hampshire. The program also includes a flexibility provision included in FY 2022 funding legislation to allow spending for the treatment of meth and cocaine addiction.
Senator Hassan continues to work to combat the fentanyl crisis and expand access to evidence-based addiction treatment. Late last year, Senator Hassan spearheaded the passage and signing into law of the renewal of the bipartisan SUPPORT Act, expanding the federal response to the fentanyl crisis and allowing more training, equipment, and resources to flow to first responders as they support Americans battling addiction. Since 2017, Senator Hassan has successfully worked to secure a nine-fold increase in funding for New Hampshire to address the addiction epidemic. Additionally, Senator Hassan helped introduce the Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act, bipartisan legislation to improve access to medication-assisted treatment by allowing more addiction specialists to prescribe methadone. In 2022, Senator Hassan successfully passed into law her bipartisan Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act to increase the number of medical professionals authorized to prescribe medication-assisted treatment. Last year, Senator Hassan launched an investigation into whether patients at for-profit methadone clinics encounter unnecessary barriers when seeking lifesaving methadone treatment for opioid addiction.
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