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VietnameseGriffin: ‘This is an effective use of Arkansas’s opioid settlement funds because it is an investment in work that will continue for decades to come’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today issued the following statement announcing he has delivered an additional $20 million of state opioid settlement funding to Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH) for a total of $30 million toward his pledged $50 million grant to help establish the National Center for Opioid Research & Clinical Effectiveness (NCOR):
“Last year, we made history in the fight against opioid abuse in America with the announcement of this grant and the initial $10 million check to Arkansas Children’s Hospital to establish NCOR—a first-of-its-kind research center that will be a game changer for our children in Arkansas and across the nation.
“I am proud to be able to give ACH an additional $20 million toward the $50 million pledge in state opioid settlement funds I made last year. The work of NCOR will lead to breakthroughs in the understanding and treatment of unborn babies, newborns, developing children, and teenagers who are impacted by opioid addiction. This is an effective use of Arkansas’s opioid settlement funds because it is a long-term investment in work that will continue for decades to come—long after opioid settlement funds are gone.”
In November 2023, Griffin announced the $50 million grant as part of a Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s $70 million fundraising effort to establish NCOR. The facility will include a brain imaging center and a clinical research unit, among other features at its 45,000-square-foot facility in Little Rock.
To download a PDF copy of this release, click here.
About Attorney General Tim Griffin
Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.
Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.
He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.
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