WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ky. — Sen. Mitch McConnell, R, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, R, and members of the treatment and recovery community met Thursday to discuss Kentucky's substance use disorder crisis.
What You Need To Know
- Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and members of the treatment and recovery community discussed Kentucky's substance use disorder crisis Thursday
- The event was held at Crown Recovery Center in Washington County
- The facility opened last fall on the former campus of St. Catharine's College
- Leaders said they discussed ways to use settlement money from opioid distributors and manufacturers, and federal funds from the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan
“We recognize that, based on the most recent report from the Kentucky Office of National Drug Control Policy, that 1,964 lives lost in overdoses is too many," Cameron said following a roundtable discussion.
Leaders said they discussed ways to use millions in settlement money from opioid distributors and manufacturers and federal funds from the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan.
"This is a one-time opportunity in which there’s going to be an enormous amount of money coming into our state that, as you think of the various things that need to be attacked, our addiction and recovery problems are pretty near the top of the list," McConnell said.
The discussion was held at the Crown Recovery Center in Washington County.
The treatment facility opened last fall on the former campus of St. Catharine’s College and has 425 people in recovery, according to Tim Robinson, founder and CEO of Addiction Recovery Care.
Zachary Lynn works at a convenience store inside the facility, where he said he meets people in all stages of their recovery.
"Almost everybody that I know has been affected by substance use disorder in one way or another," he said.
Lynn is 14 months into his recovery.
"Whenever the pain medication ran out, the heroin didn’t, and that’s how it started, was from a wreck and then pain medication and then that turned into partying and then one thing led to another until finally, in and out of jail, I decided I wanted to do something different with my life," he said.
He said he'd like to see funds coming into Kentucky "help people in smaller communities that don’t have access to the treatment facilities and the treatment resources."