WDRB Fox 41 reports on the drug czar's visit to Kentucky (Feb. 22, 2011)

SENATOR McCONNELL'S COLUMN ON THE DRUG CZAR'S VISIT TO KENTUCKY

February, 2011

The numbers are staggering: We're losing 82 Kentuckians a month to drug overdose, from the cities to rural areas in Appalachia. Nearly one thousand of our fellow Kentuckians died from drug overdose in 2009, more than those killed in traffic crashes. Last year, law enforcement responded to 1,100 meth lab sites across the state, up from 738 in 2009. And Kentucky ranks in the top three of marijuana-producing states.

Too many of our children are experimenting with drugs. Kentucky ranked 8th in the nation for abuse of prescription pain reliever drugs among 12- to 17-year-olds, and in eastern Kentucky, the average age when a child first gets high on prescription pills is 11. Drug abuse persists as a serious problem in all 120 counties of the commonwealth.

But the numbers alone can't tell the whole story. Drug addiction fuels crime, particularly theft, as abusers steal to support their habit. Drugs not only hurt the people who abuse them; they rip families apart. Parents who are addicted will neglect their children because all they care about is getting high. And I've met too many families who have lost a child to drug abuse, and will never get to see their beloved son or daughter grow up.

Fighting drug abuse takes a large bite out of government resources at the federal, state and local levels. And in this era of multi-trillion-dollar deficits, our government—at the local, state and federal levels—must be more efficient and more effective with the limited resources that are available.

That's why I encouraged R. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, to tour Kentucky this week and get a close-up view of the problems we face in the Bluegrass State. Known as the country's "drug czar," Director Kerlikowske's visit will focus attention on this crisis and inspire new solutions to deal with it.

Director Kerlikowske will visit Louisville, Lexington, London and Pikeville to better understand the scope of Kentucky's drug problem and make an informed decision on what's necessary to continue the federal government's commitment to combating drugs in the commonwealth. As a career law-enforcement officer, he is able to understand what kind of support Kentucky police need.

For instance, for more than a decade I've worked closely with the Kentucky National Guard on marijuana eradication in eastern Kentucky. Last year the Guard's efforts led to 493 arrests and 266,000 marijuana plants destroyed, plus many weapons, meth labs and pills seized.

Going forward, we will need to get similar results on a tighter budget. Getting Director Kerlikowske down to Kentucky to meet with the Guard and police officers who direct this effort is invaluable to making sure Kentucky continues to get all the help it can from the federal government.

The director's visit to get a first-hand look at the drug problem in eastern Kentucky will help ensure that our efforts to stem drug use don't recede there. The Appalachian region has a fatal overdose rate nearly twice as high as the nation at large. A visit from the drug czar will mean a lot in Louisville and Lexington, too, where the rate of deaths from prescription drugs is above the national average.

Director Kerlikowske's visit to Kentucky is an important step to saving our family members, friends and neighbors from drug abuse. The nation's drug czar could travel to a lot of places; I'm glad he accepted my invitation to come here. But it is still just one step of many. It will be up to the rest of us—elected officials, business leaders, law enforcement, educators, treatment program workers—to make the most of the attention his visit will bring, and to continue to focus on repairing the damages of drug abuse.