Virginia Law

A. The Authority shall provide financial support only for efforts that satisfy the following conditions:

1. The efforts shall be designed to treat, prevent, or reduce opioid use disorder or the misuse of opioids or otherwise abate or remediate the opioid epidemic, which may include efforts to:

a. Support treatment of opioid use disorder and any co-occurring substance use disorder or mental health conditions through evidence-based or evidence-informed methods, programs, or strategies;

b. Support people in recovery from opioid use disorder and any co-occurring substance use disorder or mental health conditions through evidence-based or evidence-informed methods, programs, or strategies;

c. Provide connections to care for people who have, or are at risk of developing, opioid use disorder and any co-occurring substance use disorder or mental health conditions through evidence-based or evidence-informed methods, programs, or strategies;

d. Support efforts, including law-enforcement programs, to address the needs of persons with opioid use disorder and any co-occurring substance use disorder or mental health conditions who are involved in, or are at risk of becoming involved in, the criminal justice system through evidence-based or evidence-informed methods, programs, or strategies;

e. Support drug treatment and recovery courts that provide evidence-based or evidence-informed options for people with opioid use disorder and any co-occurring substance use disorder or mental health conditions;

f. Support efforts to address the needs of pregnant or parenting women with opioid use disorder and any co-occurring substance use disorder or mental health conditions and the needs of their families, including infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome, through evidence-based or evidence-informed methods, programs, or strategies;

g. Support efforts to prevent overprescribing and ensure appropriate prescribing and dispensing of opioids through evidence-based or evidence-informed methods, programs, or strategies;

h. Support efforts to discourage or prevent misuse of opioids through evidence-based or evidence-informed methods, programs, or strategies;

i. Support efforts to prevent or reduce overdose deaths or other opioid-related harms through evidence-based or evidence-informed methods, programs, or strategies; and

j. Support efforts to provide comprehensive resources for patients seeking opioid detoxification, including detoxification services;

2. The efforts shall be conducted or managed by any agency of the Commonwealth or participating locality;

3. No support provided by the Authority shall be used by the recipient to supplant funding for an existing program or continue funding an existing program at its current amount of funding;

4. No support provided by the Authority shall be used by the recipient for indirect costs incurred in the administration of the financial support or for any other purpose proscribed by the Authority; and

5. Recipients of support provided by the Authority shall agree to provide the Authority with such information regarding the implementation of the effort and allow such monitoring and review of the effort as may be required by the Authority to ensure compliance with the terms under which the support is provided.

B. The Authority shall give priority to applications for financial support for efforts that:

1. Collaborate with an existing program or organization that has an established record of success treating, preventing, or reducing opioid use disorder or the misuse of opioids;

2. Treat, prevent, or reduce opioid use disorder or the misuse of opioids in a community with a high incidence of opioid use disorder or opioid death rate, relative to population;

3. Treat, prevent, or reduce opioid use disorder or the misuse of opioids in a historically economically disadvantaged community; or

4. Include a monetary match from or on behalf of the applicant, with higher priority given to an effort with a larger matching amount.

2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 306, 307.