Bipartisan group of Kentucky leaders seeks help from non-profit to fight drug abuse
In a bipartisan effort, Gov. Andy Beshear and the top two leaders of the Kentucky legislature are expected to invite a non-profit research institution to help Kentucky create a system to identify substance abusers and put them on a track other than the courts and jail.
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, on behalf of the state Senate, notified The Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, D.C., by letter Friday that the state is interested in receiving technical assistance from its substance use prevention and treatment initiative.
In a floor speech Thursday, Stivers said he expected the Democratic governor and House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, to seek Pew’s assistance within a few days.
The Beshear Administration is willing. “Now more than ever, we must work across party lines and make it a priority to win the fight against the opioid epidemic,” said Morgan Hall, communications director for the state Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.
PEW Charitable Trusts has offered assistance to Kentucky to structure criminal justice reform, specifically in relation to providing treatment programs to individuals with a substance use disorder, to be reviewed during the 2022 legislative session, Hall said.
It would be a joint partnership between the governor’s office, General Assembly, Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, Cabinet for Health and Family Services and several other agencies and community partners, she said.
Osborne has signed the letter, spokeswoman Laura Goins said Friday.
Stivers noted in his letter to PEW that despite a recent decline in opioid-related overdose deaths, Kentucky still ranked ninth among all states in such deaths in 2018. In Kentucky, there were 989 drug overdose deaths involving opioids in 2018 — a decrease from the 1,160 deaths in 2017, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The state Office of Drug Control and Policy said last August that Kentucky’s rate of fatal drug overdoses climbed again in 2019 after dropping by double digits in 2018. It said fatal overdoses rose by 5 percent in 2019, an increase of 69 overdose deaths, to a total of 1,316.
Earlier this month, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported that in Fayette County last year the number of overdose deaths surpassed 200 for the first time since overdose deaths were recorded. Preliminary records show those deaths at 209, a number that is expected to increase as more toxicology and causes of death are determined.
That’s 81 more deaths than the 128 overdose deaths in 2019 and 22 more deaths than the one-time high of 187 overdoses in 2017.
The Senate leader noted that the state in recent years “has marshalled agency resources and worked collaboratively to address this issue through prevention, treatment and education initiatives.”
But access to services and treatment is more urgent than ever with COVID-19 “interrupting service provision and exacerbating the underlying causes of opioid use disorder.”
Stivers said the state is willing to direct relevant agencies to participate with Pew and consider its recommendations for regulatory, administrative and legislative action.
The Senate president asked Pew to analyze current policies and programs relating to treatment access and quality, assess policies related to substance use disorders in Kentucky prisons, develop policy recommendations, identify and share evidence-based interventions, consult with key stakeholders and support the state’s efforts to educate stakeholders.
He said he understood that Pew, as a public charity, will provide the help at no cost to the state.
In his floor speech, Stivers stressed that substance abuse is not a partisan issue. He said over the past year he has discussed how to deal with people who abuse drugs with the Beshear Administration, legislators, courts system personnel, officials with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and Council on Postsecondary Education, Kentucky Chamber President Ashli Watts and state AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan.
He particularly praised the participation of Justice Secretary Mary Noble and Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander.
Stivers said he would like to see quick assessments of persons to see if they habitually abuse drugs and get them in rehabilitation instead of incarceration.
“This is the way to change the trajectory of an individual’s life,” he said, “giving them a job, hope and opportunity.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 4:35 PM.
