Drugs
Youngest Kentuckians increasingly fall victim to accidental overdoses
Kentucky’s youngest children continue to be at risk of drug overdoses from accidental ingestion — with the number of fatalities and the strength of the drug, or combination of drugs, increasing. Eight children died from ingesting drugs and another 47 suffered an overdose in fiscal year 2022 among cases reviewed by the Child Fatality and […]
Bill to get home blood test kits covered by Medicaid passes Kentucky House?
FRANKORT — A bill that would require Kentucky Medicaid to cover at-home blood test kits passed the House 93-0 Monday. House Bill 31 can now advance to the Senate. HB31 would make life easier for Medicaid patients who take blood thinners for their mechanical heart valves. Some patients need the blood thinners after drug use […]
Overdoses up in Lexington as fentanyl is being found in all types of drugs
The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department announced it is seeing “an unusually high number of suspected nonfatal drug overdoses” a week into 2024.? There were 29 such overdoses Jan. 4-7, the health department reported, compared with 17 the previous week. “This is an important time to carry naloxone, used to reverse opioid overdoses, especially if you […]
DEA vet will lead Kentucky’s opioid settlement distribution. AG-elect Coleman announces his team.
A veteran of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will lead the Kentucky commission that is overseeing distribution of millions of dollars from opioid settlements, Attorney General-elect Russell Coleman announced Tuesday. Christopher Evans, who started as a street agent and served as the DEA’s acting administrator in 2021, will become the new executive director of the […]
Pike County schools will distribute overdose reversal drug
The Pike County School District in Eastern Kentucky will distribute 200 extra boxes of naloxone, commonly called Narcan,?to its campuses and families, thanks to a donation from the national nonprofit HarborPath. The school district already made the overdose reversal drug available to schools, it said Wednesday, but now has the capacity to provide more doses […]
States strive to get opioid overdose drug to more people
Posing as shoppers, a team of researchers from the University of Mississippi called nearly 600 pharmacies across the state and asked a simple, yes-or-no question: “Do you have naloxone that I can pick up today?” Mississippi enacted a law authorizing pharmacists to sell the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone — often sold under the brand […]
Evolving overdose crisis shakes previously effective treatments
BURLINGTON, Vt. — “You can’t inject a horse tranquilizer and think nothing bad is going to happen” to you, said Ty Sears, 33, a longtime drug user now in recovery. Sears was referring to xylazine, a sedative used for animal surgeries that has infiltrated the illicit drug supply across the country, contributing to a steady […]
Candidates for governor quarrel over glory for winning opioid settlements
Opioid settlement cash is not inherently political. It’s not the result of a law passed by Congress nor an edit to the state budget. It’s not taxpayer money. Rather, it’s coming from health care companies that were sued for fueling the opioid crisis with prescription painkillers. But like most dollars meant to address public health […]
Ibogaine long shot for FDA approval, heart expert warns Kentucky opioid commission
In a session focused on challenges of getting the psychedelic drug ibogaine approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating addiction with help of the state’s opioid settlement funds, a cardiologist said it couldn’t be done in a reasonable time and the drug is unsafe. “My opinion is that ibogaine is not safe, the […]
$13.9 million in grants distributed from Kentucky opioid settlement funds
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced Monday the distribution of $13.9 million in grants to organizations fighting the opioid epidemic through recovery and prevention services in Kentucky.? Standing in the Capitol Rotunda, Cameron called the opioid crisis the “public safety challenge of our lifetime” that continues to be “unacceptable.”? “We could have the finest schools, […]
Louisville mayor names board to oversee distribution of opioid settlement money
LOUISVILLE—On schedule, Kentucky’s most populous city just finalized an advisory board to oversee its opioid settlement fund distribution.? Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg appointed health experts and other local leaders to supervise the spending of more than $57 million from opioid settlements with CVS, Walgreens, Teva and Allergan.? Release of the? $57 million will be spread […]
Louisville jail installed a naloxone vending machine. Why it matters.
LOUISVILLE — In the two weeks after leaving jail, a person’s risk of overdosing from opioids is much higher.? That’s because of “abstinence during the period of incarceration (and) the decrease in tolerance associated with that abstinence,” according to Ben Goldman, the community health administrator for Louisville’s public health department.? So, the Metro Department of […]