US health officials reverse course and reinstate $1.9bn to mental health and substance use; The Guardian, January 15, 2026

Melody Schreiber, The Guardian; US health officials reverse course and reinstate $1.9bn to mental health and substance use

"US health officials reversed course and began reinstating nearly $2bn in cuts to mental health and substance use programs on Wednesday night, one day after they unexpectedly announced the immediate shutdown of programs.

The reversal is a blow to the agenda of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, who has made aggressive and legally contested cuts to health agencies in the first year of the Trump administration and has proposed folding the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Samhsa) into a new agency he would call the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA).

There was immediate outcry about the effects of shutting down vital programs amounting to one-quarter of the budget of Samhsa.

The cuts would have affected overdose prevention and reversal, mental health and substance use support for children, mental health training and support for first responders, support for pregnant and postpartum women, and recovery support programs.

Some programs received reinstatement letters late on Wednesday night, while others are still waiting for official notice that their programs could resume, sources told the Guardian."

‘People will die’: Trump administration cancels up to $1.9bn for substance use and mental health; The Guardian, January 14, 2026

Melody Schreiber , The Guardian; ‘People will die’: Trump administration cancels up to $1.9bn for substance use and mental health

"The Trump administration on Tuesday evening unexpectedly canceled up to $1.9bn in funding for substance use and mental health care, which providers say will immediately affect thousands of patients.

“It feels like Armageddon for everyone who’s on the frontlines of the addiction and mental health space,” said Ryan Hampton, founder of Mobilize Recovery, a national advocacy organization for people in and seeking recovery.

“The scope of care that’s disrupted by these grants is catastrophic. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people will die.”"

Public libraries in Illinois now required to store anti-opioid overdose medications after a series of near-deaths; The Independent, December 28, 2025

Isabel Keane, The Independent; Public libraries in Illinois now required to store anti-opioid overdose medications after a series of near-deaths

"A new state law will require all public libraries in Illinois to stock medications that can reverse opioid overdoses after at least one library in the state reported multiple overdoses each year.

The new law, which goes into effect January 1, will require all public libraries in the state to stock opioid overdose reversal drugs and allow trained staff to administer them in the event of a suspected overdose, the Illinois Department of Public Health said earlier this month."

New law requires public libraries across Illinois to carry opioid OD reversal medication; The Chicago Tribune, December 28, 2025

Lisa Schenker, The Chicago Tribune; New law requires public libraries across Illinois to carry opioid OD reversal medication

Illinois libraries required to carry Narcan next year; Fox2Now, December 9, 2025

Caroline Pettey, Alex Barton, Fox2Now; Illinois libraries required to carry Narcan next year

"Starting on the first day of 2026, public libraries across Illinois will be required to keep opioid overdose-reversal medications, such as naloxone (Narcan) on site and have trained staff ready to administer them.

A new standing order signed by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) director seeks to fight back against opioid overdose deaths by making sure that libraries, often considered a safe space for the community, is prepared to respond in that kind of emergency. 

Libraries will be able to obtain naloxone or nalmefene without a prescription and train staff to use it. Under the Illinois Good Samaritan Act, library personnel who administer naloxone in good faith are protected from liability.

The law will require at least one trained person on duty at all times."

Trump budget draft ends Narcan program and other addiction measures.; The New York Times, April 25, 2025

 

Jan Hoffman, 

The New York Times; 

Trump budget draft ends Narcan program and other addiction measures.

"The opioid overdose reversal medication commercially known as Narcan saves hundreds of thousands of lives a year and is routinely praised by public health experts for contributing to the continuing drop in opioid-related deaths. But the Trump administration plans to terminate a $56 million annual grant program that distributes doses and trains emergency responders in communities across the country to administer them, according to a draft budget proposal.

In the document, which outlines details of the drastic reorganization and shrinking planned for the Department of Health and Human Services, the grant is among many addiction prevention and treatment programs to be zeroed out.

States and local governments have other resources for obtaining doses of Narcan, which is also known by its generic name, naloxone. One of the main sources, a program of block grants for states to use to pay for various measures to combat opioid addiction, does not appear to have been cut.

But addiction specialists are worried about the symbolic as well as practical implications of shutting down a federal grant designated specifically for naloxone training and distribution."