By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was in Northern Kentucky Friday to tour the St. Elizabeth Training and Education Center (SETEC) and address ongoing concerns about the opioid crisis.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at the St. Elizabeth Training and Education Center Friday addressing the ongoing efforts in Congress to deal with the nation’s opioid crisis (photo by Mark Hansel).
McConnell was joined on the tour by community leaders that have been active in the fight against opioid addiction, including St. Elizabeth President and CEO Garren Colvin and Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore.
“We know that Northern Kentucky has been hard hit, but of course, that’s not the only part of the country, or the only part of Kentucky that has had this exceptional challenge,” McConnell said. “At the federal level, we’ve been working over the last three or four years to dramatically ramp up our part of this, which is to provide funding for communities all across America to tackle the issue, firsthand.”
McConnell R-KY, pointed to the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act (CARA), during the Obama administration as the first piece of federal legislation to focus primarily on opioid addiction. That was followed up by the 21st Century CURES Bill, designed to help accelerate medical product development, as well as to provide additional opioid funding.
“Fast-forward to the Trump Administration, we’ve continued dramatic increases,” McConnell said. “There is actually a bill on the floor, right now, in the Senate, that we will be dealing with next week to provide further funding.”
The federal government can contribute funds, but McConnell said the implementation of programs should happen at the local level.
“Facilities like St. Elizabeth, of course, interact with this issue on the ground,” McConnell said. “They deal with the patients who are suffering from this problem.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (left) speaks with Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore following a tour of the St. Elizabeth Training and Education Center Friday (photo by Mark Hansel).
Opioid addiction is a national epidemic and McConnell said the country hasn’t turned the corner yet, but there are some hopeful signs that maybe the crisis is beginning to level off.
“There is no better-prepared community anywhere in the country to tackle this issue than Northern Kentucky,” McConnell said. “The various players here have been extremely active from the very beginning and I couldn’t be prouder of them. They’ve been spending grant money in an effective way and we’re going to continue this fight.”
McConnell looked back to the 2016 presidential election when so many U.S. senators were seeking their party’s nomination.
“I always remind people, (they came) to New Hampshire, where the presidential race begins in earnest saying the biggest issue in New Hampshire was the opioid crisis, so that ought to underscore how pervasive the problem is,” McConnell said.
Colvin said McConnell’s support in Congress has been a tremendous asset to the region.
“You don’t get a more powerful advocate and a more supportive advocate than that,” Colvin said. “A lot of the programs that we’ve implemented in Northern Kentucky have been a result of the funds that he’s made available to the state of Kentucky, which ultimately make it to St. Elizabeth and this community.”
Northern Kentucky has done it’s part, Colvin said, by working collaboratively to make the best use of the funding that has been provided.
“One thing that this Northern Kentucky community has done, is come together, so when we are applying for a grant, typically it’s three or four agencies coming together to apply for that grant,” Colvin said. “It’s done two things – it’s allowed us to make a little bit of a difference in this community and it’s brought more dollars because we are trying to do it as a group, not four or five individual agencies.”
“There is no better-prepared community anywhere in the country to tackle this (opioid addiction) issue than Northern Kentucky. The various players here have been extremely active from the very beginning and I couldn’t be prouder of them. They’ve been spending grant money in an effective way and we’re going to continue this fight,” U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore said McConnell recognized how opioid addiction was impacting the region and the country early on.
“When we started talking about the opiate addiction issue a few years ago, Sen. McConnell came up and held a town hall-type discussion at the (Northern Kentucky Area Development District) and brought in Michael Botticelli, the (then) Drug Czar, right after that,” Moore said. “He said being aware of what was going on here, got him out in front of it. What they’ve done with the CURES Act and all of the other funding options that are flowing down to local communities is just amazing.”
Recently, law enforcement officials say they have seen an increase in other types of drug use, such as methamphetamine. Moore said that may be indicative of some of the successes in the fight against opioid addiction.
“If law enforcement is doing a better job on the opioid supply, that could be why people are looking at other drug options,” Moore said. “I think it’s also the point that through education in the community, people who would take that prescription opiate after a surgery, or something of that nature, they are now monitoring how they are going to use that drug, and I think that is having an impact.”
Fighting addition, Moore said, is like a puzzle with many pieces.
“Keeping people from being addicted is a piece, those that are addicted, are going to find a drug of choice, even if we eliminate opioids,” Moore said. “So it also points out that the core issue is mental health and opening up the Sun Behavioral Center, finding more treatment options and funding for treatment are all helping.”
The number of deaths attributed to opioid overdose is leveling off and maybe even declining in the region, but the number of overdoses continues to increase.
“I think that’s because of increased use of Narcan (Naloxone),” Moore said. “The overdoses are happening, but fewer people are dying.”
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
