(LEX 18) — Kentucky is celebrating a major victory in its fight against the drug crisis with a 30.2% decrease in overdose deaths last year, continuing a three-year downward trend.
The decreases are happening despite the increased danger of today's drugs.
"We're living in an age where - especially with fentanyl - the drugs are more powerful than they've ever been," Gov. Andy Beshear said.
Despite the increased potency, Kentucky has managed to achieve remarkable success in saving lives. The state's data shows consistent improvement over the past three years. In 2022, drug overdose deaths decreased by 2.5%. In 2023, they went down 9.8%. And in 2024, the state saw a significant 30.2% reduction.
"Narcan, treatment, recovery, drug seizure are all how that's happening," Beshear said.
The governor credits Kentucky's comprehensive strategy, which includes making life-saving tools like Narcan more accessible, increasing treatment bed availability, and providing access to long-term services.
Beshear believes the turning point for Kentucky came when certain addiction services became eligible for Medicaid coverage.
"For Medicaid being there, being able to put the dollars behind these providers to grow, to have more peer support specialists, to have more types of treatment and longer recovery services - I believe that was a game changer," Beshear said.
Tara Hyde, who recently celebrated 14 years in long-term recovery, agrees that investing in various addiction recovery services has been crucial to Kentucky's success.
Hyde points out that it takes about five years for a person in recovery to drop back down to the same risk level as the average person.
"That's significant. That's five years. That's a long time. And we just didn't have the wrap around services and the investment until the last few years, which is why now I think we're seeing the decrease," Hyde said.
However, there's growing concern that potential federal cuts to Medicaid could undermine Kentucky's progress in combating the drug epidemic.
"I believe the most serious and significant threat to the progress we've made would be significant cuts to Medicaid from the federal government," said Beshear.
"They should not do it," he added. "It would gut rural healthcare as a whole, but it would also significantly impact addiction services that are needed."
