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LOUISVILLE, KY – Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), who serves as the Republican Leader of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, brought together families who have lost loved ones to drug overdose, addiction treatment professionals, law enforcement, and local officials for a roundtable discussion on how to reduce overdose deaths in Kentucky and better help people in the community overcome substance use disorders.

Click HERE to download photo of the roundtable discussion on drug addiction

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 100,000 Americans were lost to a drug overdose from April 2020 to April 2021. Kentucky had a 55% increase in overdose deaths, one of the biggest increases in the nation from the 12-month period ending in April 2020 to the 12-month period ending in April 2021.

“We are losing more than 100,000 loved ones and neighbors to drug overdoses in just a period of 12 months. This is an emergency in the Commonwealth and across our nation. We need the full support of local, state, and national partners to address this with solutions that come from the bottom up from the people who have seen and experienced the heartbreaking cost of drugs flooding into our communities. Thank you to families, who shared their stories and are working to ensure no other families know their pain, and to local law enforcement, addiction treatment professionals, and local officials for your input on how to curb the drug overdose crisis. Together, we can make a difference by getting these drugs out of our communities and helping get people addicted to drugs back on their feet,” said Guthrie.

Click HERE to download photo of the roundtable discussion on drug addiction

Background on legislation:

• Guthrie is the lead Republican on the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant Act of 2022, which would reauthorize a key grant program that provides targeted resources to local entities focused on delivering treatment and recovery services to help people with substance use disorders. The bill requires a minimum of 20% of the resources to go to substance use prevention resources and then the 80% can go to substance use prevention resources or treatment services, such as workforce and housing. The bill had its first congressional hearing on April 5, 2022.
• Guthrie is an original cosponsor of the HALT Fentanyl Act. Fentanyl-related substances can be more potent than fentanyl. This bill permanently schedules fentanyl-related substances as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which means it has no known medical use and a high potential for abuse. Fentanyl-related substances are only temporarily under Schedule I until December 31, 2022.
• Guthrie supported the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act, which is known as the most significant congressional effort to address a single drug crisis. Guthrie’s Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers Act was part of the SUPPORT Act package and was signed into law in 2018 to help people with opioid use disorder by establishing comprehensive treatment facilities.

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