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Where Has The Opioid Treatment Money Gone?

In the final days of the Obama administration, a bipartisan Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act.

Part of that bill authorized nearly $1 billion dollars to the states in emergency money to help get people into treatment for opioid addiction.

Years later, the Associated Press wondered what happened to that money. How did states spend it? And has it made a dent in the ongoing opioid crisis in this country?

They found states spent this money unevenly — especially between those states that took the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, and those that did not.

Carla K. Johnson is a medical writer for the AP and she reported this story along with Nicky Forster. She joined The Show to talk about it.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Nicky Forster's name.

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Lauren Gilger, host of KJZZ's The Show, is an award-winning journalist whose work has impacted communities large and small, exposing injustices and giving a voice to the voiceless and marginalized.