Kentucky ranks high for drug-related problems

BOWLING GREEN Ky.- The misuse of drugs can pose a serious threat to communities, and Kentucky is ranked eighth worst for drug problems, according to a WalletHub study. This stems from WalletHub factors including being seventh in opioid pain reliever prescriptions per capita and fifth in drug overdose per capita.

Market Manager for Kentucky programs of JourneyPure, Jerry Lucas, said Kentucky’s location is playing a role in this issue.

“Every major highway goes right through Kentucky to get to major cities. We’re surrounded by mountains on one side and the other side by the river. For any type of trafficking, they come through Kentucky to get wherever they have to go east or west,” Lucas said.

Director of the Bowling Green Warren-County Drug Task Force Tommy Loving said Kentucky has already been taking steps to climb out of this ranking.

“I think we’ve done several things over the last few years. The first thing we did was House Bill 1 back in 2012. We’ve seen a great decrease in opioid prescribing. It took us a long time to get where we are, and it’ll take a long time to turn this around,” Loving said.

Adding stronger deterrents to drug trafficking would help, Loving said.

“On the drug traffickers, all too often they have to be charged two or three times before they ever get a prison sentence. I think if you’re going to sell drugs, you belong in prison. I think if we’d be a little more strict in our enforcement in sending drug traffickers to prison, I really feel that it would add to the deterrent effect,” Loving said.

Lucas emphasizes the importance of addiction facilities for the treatment of those who use drugs.

“The answer is not always just putting people through residential programs anymore. We have to figure out a way to treat this differently. Sometimes that includes medication assisted treatment,” Lucas said.