LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky's attorney general wants to use athletes and influencers to encourage children to live a drug-free lifestyle.
Attorney general Russell Coleman said on Tuesday there is nearly $900 million in opioid settlement money available to use. He asked that $3.6 million to go toward youth drug prevention.
"I'm here to discuss the gaping hole in our efforts to fight the drug threat in Kentucky," Coleman said.
A total of 1,984 Kentuckians died last year from a drug overdose, down 9.8% from the prior year, according to the 2023 Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Report. Fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid — was the biggest culprit, accounting for 79% of overdose deaths in 2023, the report said.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman spoke to Kentucky's Opioid Abatement Commission in Frankfort, Ky. on Sept. 10, 2024.
On Tuesday, Coleman presented a plan before Kentucky's Opioid Abatement Commission. It's a group of lawmakers created to decide how to spend Kentucky's settlement money.
"Kentucky needs a youth-focused education effort that will keep our sons and daughters away from deadly substances in the first place," Coleman said.
The Opioid Abatement Commission unanimously approved Coleman's plan, which is a two-year, $3.6 million proposal. The campaign is called "Better Without It."
Coleman said his proposal has three angles.
The first is an advertising campaign that uses young people like influencers and name, image and likeness deals with athletes.
"I'm confident we've built a proposal that will reach young people with the right message and the right messenger," Coleman said. "Let's be clear, this isn't a marketing campaign designed for me and you. We may not even see these ads ourselves. That's the point."
The second part of the plan is focused on getting more anti-drug programs that already exist into more classrooms.
"Right now, there is a patchwork of existing programs available across Kentucky," Coleman said.
If it is approved, it would be at no cost to schools.
The third focus point is centered around raising awareness about the commission and nonprofits that have already received state grants to help fight the battle against drugs.
"Together, they are three parts of an evidence-based program designed thoughtfully and specifically to prevent addiction in Kentucky," Coleman said.
There is also still hundreds of millions of dollars available for organizations fighting against drug use and overdose deaths to apply. The commission approves grants on a rolling basis.
Kentucky has made progress with its multi-pronged approach to addiction, according to Gov. Andy Beshear, who has previously pointed to declines in statewide drug overdose deaths the past two years. The state is at the national forefront in the per-capita number of residential drug and alcohol treatment beds, Beshear said in July.
Kentucky's Republican-dominated Legislature escalated the fight against fentanyl this year by passing a sweeping measure that's meant to combat crime. A key section created harsher penalties when the distribution of fentanyl results in fatal overdoses.
At the federal level, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has steered huge sums of federal funding to his home state of Kentucky over the years to combat its addiction woes.
Among various age groups, the highest number of overdose deaths last year was among Kentuckians in the 35- to 44-year-old group at 571, a drop of 13% from 2022, the report said.
Nationally, about 107,500 people died of overdoses in the U.S. last year, including both American citizens and non-citizens in the country at the time they died, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated recently. That’s down 3% from 2022, when there were an estimated 111,000 such deaths, the agency said.
In Kentucky, 160,000 doses of Narcan — the drug that can save someone’s life during an opioid overdose — were distributed last year.
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Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved.
