Focus on Kentucky
A Decade of Change
Drug Mortality: 2004
Drug Mortality: 2014
Click here to explore data
Click here to explore data
Average death rates in Kentucky continue to increase.
Kentucky is among the states hit hardest.
Focus: Boone County
“Now we are seeing (heroin) in nicer communities – in Carmel, in Zionsville, in nice homes in
Lebanon and in Thorntown. It can happen and it is happening here, and if you don’t believe it is,
you are wrong. You are just flat wrong.”
Ken Campbell, Boone County Sheriff
Focus on Prevention and Treatment over Incarceration
There is much to do, but the momentum is moving in the right direction. The "Good Samaritan" provision of Kentucky's new heroin law allows for immunity from criminal and civil complaints for heroin overdose as long as 911 is called. The state's General Assembly also approved a law to:
1) expand access to naloxone, which can immediately reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, and comes with instructions to call 911 after administration
2) toughen penalties for dealing and selling heroin,
3) add $34 million to the state's addiction treatment system,
4) allow needle exchanges in local jurisdictions, such as Jefferson County.
Kentucky Rep. John Tilley on Helping Prescribers Confront Opioid Crisis
Learn More About the Crisis
