Minnesota gets $5.4M federal grant for fighting opioid addiction

Opioid overdoses have been on the rise across the country, but the problem is growing faster in Minnesota.

Now, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Minnesota $5.4 million to fight the opioid epidemic.

The money will be used to help increase access to treatment for addicts, Lt. Gov. Tina Smith said.

"We're looking at a no-holds-barred effort to improve what we are able to do in Minnesota when it comes to treatment and recovery," she said.

When the money becomes available later this summer, she said it will likely go toward funding community health centers, tribal organizations and long term treatment programs.

Over the last 17 years, deaths from opioid overdoses have spiked by 430 percent in the state. Hennepin County alone saw a nearly 60 percent jump in opioid-related deaths from 2015 to 2016, with the dead ranging from stillborn to age 66.

The federal money will help, Smith said, but it's not enough to solve the problem. Gov. Mark Dayton hopes to level a fee on pharmaceutical companies, which would raise $42 million to fund a much larger treatment effort.