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A new $3 million federal grant will put opioid overdose reversal training into more hands across two of Texas’s largest counties. The University of Houston will use the four-year grant from SAMHSA to expand FRONTLINES, a Houston-based program that trains first responders in Harris and Fort Bend counties to recognize an opioid overdose and administer …
$3M Grant Fights Fentanyl Deaths With Opioid Overdose Training
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A new $3 million federal grant will put opioid overdose reversal training into more hands across two of Texas’s largest counties. The University of Houston will use the four-year grant from SAMHSA to expand FRONTLINES, a Houston-based program that trains first responders in Harris and Fort Bend counties to recognize an opioid overdose and administer naloxone.
The expansion is the apex of eight years of work. Even though Texas features programs to battle opioids and local Narcotics Anonymous chapters are effective, too many people still die. In 2024, 450 Harris County residents died of overdoses with fentanyl involved in 3/4 of those fatalities.
The Opioid Crisis in The Longhorn State
Nationally, more than 40,000 Americans died from overdoses involving opioids in 2025. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid much deadlier than heroin, now contaminates much of the street drug supply, including counterfeit pills, which means people who don’t consider themselves opioid users still face opioid overdose risks.
FRONTLINES co-founder Dr. James Bray of UH’s Fertitta Family College of Medicine stressed the importance.
“When someone experiencing an opioid overdose is reached in time, naloxone can save their life. We’ve seen the impact this training can have in Houston, and now we have an opportunity to extend that reach across Harris and Fort Bend counties.”
How FRONTLINES Works
FRONTLINES launched in 2018 as a collaboration between the university, city officials, the Fertitta College of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston Recovery Center.
The program trains first responders to spot the signs of an opioid overdose and respond with naloxone, the medication that displaces opioids from receptors in the brain and restores breathing.
Harm reduction training will go to UH medical, social work and psychology students and other community members. It’ll extend lifesaving skills beyond first responder agencies and into neighborhoods. Train-the-trainer models like this multiply the reach of each dollar, since every student who learns to teach naloxone use can instruct many others.
Harm Reduction & Treatment
Naloxone keeps people alive so recovery stays possible.
For people ready to address opioid addiction itself, medications including methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone are FDA-approved and proven to cut overdose deaths.
The university also received a $2.6 million estate gift in 2025 supporting research into a vaccine that would block fentanyl from reaching the brain, now in development at UH.
NA Still a Top Option
No matter which option you choose, one consistent element has always been NA. Narcotics Anonymous meetings offer free peer support in any local community in the USA.
To find NA meetings in any of the 50 states, search our meeting directory. For help exploring opioid treatment programs, call 800-934-1582(Sponsored) .
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