Kentucky was well represented at the four-day Rx and Illicit Drug Summit in Nashville
By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
Following a panel featuring several Kentucky congressmen, Attorney General Russell Coleman delivered a keynote address at the 14th annual Rx and Illicit Drug Summit in Nashville on April 22, highlighting Kentucky’s new youth-focused prevention effort called “Better Without It.”
Funded by the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, the two-year, $3.6 million program features college athletes and other influencers to show the young people of Kentucky they can live healthy and fulfilling lives without the influence of drugs.
“This message is going out to where young people are on social media, podcasts, and around college campuses,” Coleman said in a news release. “We’re able to speak directly to kids ages 13-26 in a way that the data says will actually break through the noise and have a lifesaving impact.”
The Rx and Illicit Drug Summit began under the leadership of Operation UNITE (Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education), a Kentucky non-profit created by U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers of Somerset.
This year’s event, held April 21-24, included 3,000 attendees from across the country, with representatives from the federal, state and local levels, according to a separate news release out of Rogers’ office.
Coleman’s keynote address followed a congressional panel that included Rogers, representing Kentucky’s 5th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. James Comer, representing the state’s First Congressional District; and U.S. Rep Brett Guthrie, representing the state’s Second Congressional District. The discussion was moderated by Rogers’ Chief of staff Karen Kelly.
Also on the panel were U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Georgia and U.S. Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas.
Each of the panelists shared details about challenges in their home districts, successful changes in bipartisan policy and legislation, and the drive behind their continued life-saving efforts, said the Rogers’ news release.
“One of the major factors leading to our historic reduction in drug overdose deaths is the broad access to naloxone,”said Guthrie, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “It is a life-saving drug. I know it doesn’t answer all our problems, but it has saved countless lives on the spot during active overdoses in Kentucky and across the country.”
Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said, “Fentanyl is the deadliest drug that we have ever seen in America, so we need to ensure that our law enforcement agencies have the tools they need to detect drugs at the border and stop them from coming into our communities. President Trump nearly secured our borders overnight, putting drug cartels on the run, so we need to support his efforts at the border. We have also learned the value of investing in recovery centers across the country. I would encourage everyone to visit one of the centers and witness how they are overcoming addiction, earning their GEDs and learning new skills to reenter our workforce. It’s incredible to see the transformation taking place in the lives of people in recovery.”
Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Lambert, Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 27th Judicial Circuit Jackie Steele and Lt. Col. Jonathon Wesely of the Kentucky National Guard also presented at the conference.
In addition, two of the panel topics involved Kentucky, including one titled “Project SHIELD: Police Education to Support Pubic Health in Kentucky,” and another titled, ” Listening to Our Communities: The Impact of Town Hall Sessions on Judicial and Behavioral Health Systems in Kentucky.”
Rogers also notes in the release that he kicked off the annual summit with “big news” from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The CDC recently reported a historic reduction in drug overdose deaths with a nearly 30% decline in fatalities nationwide. It is the fewest overdose deaths that we’ve seen since the epidemic spiked during the Covid pandemic, and I’m thankful to say that Kentucky is leading the way,” he said. “The reduction is a result of more law enforcement resources, more treatment and recovery options, more access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, and investments in education, like the Drug Enforcement Agency’s ‘One Pill Can Kill’ fentanyl awareness campaign. When you combine those investments with a secure border, I’m confident that we will continue to see more lives saved in the future.”
Kentucky Educational Television attended the summit and has a collection of stories from the event on its website, with the latest one featuring Part 1 of a recap of the Summit to be aired on Kentucky Tonight at 8 p.m. on Monday, April 28.