LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - The nursing school at New Mexico State University has received a three-year $1.35 million grant to help address the opioid epidemic.

The funding from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration will finance a project aimed at expanding the number of professionals in New Mexico who are trained to prevent and treat opioid use and substance abuse disorders in community-based practices.

The project is a collaboration between the university’s College of Health and Social Services and the College of Education. Officials say faculty and students from a total of three university departments will participate in the project through 2021.

According to state health officials, New Mexico in 2017 reported a rate of 24.6 deaths per 100,000 people because of drug overdose. Opioid overdose-related emergency room visits also increased by 60 percent between 2010 and 2017.

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