Eight programs to fight and treat drug use
FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 15, 2015) — Gov. Steve Beshear today announced $10 million—as part of bipartisan legislation passed in this year—to fund eight programs aimed at fighting and treating heroin use and substance abuse in Kentucky.
Programs range from assistance to addicted mothers of newborns to treatment programs in jails and prisons.
The bill also offers multiple tactics to reduce the trafficking and abuse of heroin. Traffickers will face stiffer penalties, particularly if heroin is transported across state lines. A “good Samaritan” provision gives users legal immunity if they report an overdose victim. The measure also authorizes more use of the anti-overdose drug naloxone, and allows communities the option of setting up needle exchanges.
Funding recommendations include up to:
- $1 million to the Department of Corrections (DOC) for substance abuse treatment programs for county inmates in local jails.
- $500,000 to expand substance abuse treatment programs for state inmates in local jails.
- $1.5 million to DOC for an injectable, Food and Drug Administration-approved extended-release treatment program to prevent an opiate relapse as offenders are released from custody.
- $2.6 million for grants to community mental health centers to fund additional substance abuse treatment resources on a local level.
- $1 million to address neonatal abstinence syndrome by assisting with transitional care and wrap-around services.
- $1.2 million to the Department for Public Advocacy (DPA) to fully fund DPA’s social worker program, for the purpose of developing individualized alternative sentencing plans.
- $1.2 million to the Prosecutors Advisory Council to enhance the use of “rocket docket” prosecutions in controlled substance cases.
- $1 million to the Kentucky Agency for Substance Abuse Policy or KY-ASAP to supplement traditional programming.
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