Pubdate: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) Copyright: 2003 Lexington Herald-Leader Contact: http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240 Author: Bill Estep, Linda J. Johnson, Charles B. Camp $8 million earmarked for Kentucky drug battle NEWSPAPER ARTICLES IMPEL REQUEST FOR FUNDS Law enforcement, treatment and education efforts to fight a debilitating drug problem in Eastern and southern Kentucky will get an $8 million boost from the federal government. U.S. Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers, R-5th District, announced yesterday that he requested money for a new anti-drug campaign in his district, and it was included in the giant federal budget bill approved late Thursday. Rogers said at a news conference in Lexington that he sought the funding after reading recent Herald-Leader articles about the drug problem in Eastern Kentucky, and talking with police and others about the situation. Drug abuse -- particularly involving prescription drugs -- has caused deaths, ruined lives, increased crime and outstripped the resources of police and of treatment providers, the congressman said. "By any measure, this is the worst drug scourge that's ever hit our region," Rogers said. Though many details remain to be worked out, the new initiative will involve three main pieces: . Setting up regional law-enforcement task forces to investigate drug trafficking. . Working with educators to expand education efforts against drug abuse. . Working with citizens and local groups to "establish drug treatment programs where they don't exist, and expand them where they do," Rogers said. The program will be administered by the Center for Rural Development in Somerset. Glenda Shrum, Knott County Health Department administrator and member of a local drug-abuse council, said she was thrilled to hear about the initiative. She has written letters to Rogers, state lawmakers, the governor and even the president about the lack of drug treatment in Eastern Kentucky. The drug council has been applying for grants to start an outpatient treatment program. But word of the new funding inspired Shrum to thoughts of a more comprehensive residential treatment program. Having "long-term residential treatment and day-treatment all in one building would be the ideal situation," she said. The Herald-Leader reported a number of findings about the drug problem in rural Kentucky in a recent series of articles. The paper found that Eastern Kentucky leads the nation in the amount of painkillers per capita that reach drugstores, hospitals and other legal outlets, the influx of painkillers increasing the potential for illegal diversion. The newspaper also found that medical regulators and state law haven't kept pace with the soaring abuse of prescription drugs; that police agencies are short-handed; that there is a shortage of treatment; and that there are significant disparities among state courts in dismissal rates, conviction rates and sentencing in drug cases. Rogers said that after reading the articles, he discussed the situation with police and the U.S. Attorney's Office and came up with ideas to tackle the problem. He then went to U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf to wangle money. Wolf is a Virginia Republican who is chairman of the subcommittee that oversees funding for the federal Justice Department. Rogers hopes some of the money will be used for extra prosecutors in state courts to help prosecutors who want assistance. Rogers also announced that the budget includes $7.5 million for which states can apply to set up or expand prescription-drug monitoring programs - -- a budget initiative established last year with $2 million and named for Rogers. Kentucky has been a leader with its monitoring system, known by the acronym KASPER. It can be used to investigate people who illegally obtain multiple prescriptions. Rogers would like to see Kentucky upgrade the system to track prescriptions in real time, so that it could be used to block fraudulent requests for drugs by someone who had recently filled an identical prescription. That, plus setting up KASPER-type systems in surrounding states, would make a big dent in prescription-drug fraud, Rogers said. Kentucky has applied for $250,000 to test such a real-time system in Harlan and Perry counties. Rogers said the program hasn't started and needs to be expedited. Gov. Paul Patton sought almost $1.5 million last year to upgrade KASPER so police and other users could get immediate answers to requests for data. They now wait an average of four hours. That plan, which is in limbo, is less advanced than a real-time system. But it's the best use of scant state resources, said Danna Droz, who runs the KASPER system. A real-time system would be very expensive, Droz said in a recent interview. It would also be of less immediate value than providing fast responses, she said, because most KASPER users are examining long-term patterns of abuse, doctor-shopping or other prescription irregularities. Though its data might be a month old, the current system helps detect those things, she said. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens