HHS Terminates, Then Reinstates, Thousands of SAMHSA Grants

The Trump administration reversed course in mid-January after notifying thousands of organizations across the country that their substance use recovery and mental health grants were being terminated. The cuts targeted discretionary grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and included youth overdose prevention and medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorder, among other things.

The cuts were expected to reduce access to services for mental health and substance use disorder nationwide and threatened to make it harder for Republicans and Democrats to reach an agreement on legislation funding the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) in 2026, which includes money for SAMHSA. Funding runs out on January 30th, 2026, unless Congress acts.

In termination notices sent to grantees, signed by Christopher D. Carroll, principal deputy assistant secretary at SAMHSA, the agency wrote that it’s “adjusting its discretionary award portfolio, which includes terminating some of its awards, in order to better prioritize agency resources.”

There is little indication of what events led to the notices of termination being released, nor any official notice from HHS as to why the terminations were reversed. Some drug policy advocates said they saw the cuts as a signal that the administration is still eager to pursue restructuring, by folding SAMHSA into a new, yet to be formally created division under HHS, “the Administration for Healthy America”.

SAMHSA has already lost roughly half of its staff over the last year to layoffs and resignations tied to Trump’s efforts to downsize the federal workforce. Recent data from the White House Office of Personnel Management showed that the agency now employs 547 people, down from 916 in 2024.