BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - The partial government shutdown has an effect against Erie County's ongoing fight against the opioid epidemic, according to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
"There were three grants that we received last year," Poloncarz told WBEN on Tuesday. "Large grants from the federal government -two from the Department of Justice and one from the Department of Health and Human Services- that we haven't been able to advance and receive money on due to the shutdown. There's been millions of dollars that could have been coming in to this community to fight the opioid epidemic in 2019...but we can't get them because of the federal government. That's the sillyness of the shutdown."
Poloncarz said multiple times that fentanyl, the deadly substance that's added onto a drug which resulted in the recent deaths of at least five people this weekend in Erie County, originates in China and is exported to the United States using its east and west coasts.
"Building a wall will make no difference with regards to the fentanyl deaths that are occurring in our community," the county executive added.
As the shutdown continues with no apparent end in sight, Poloncarz said additional programs such as SNAP will run out of funding.