FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky took a step Monday to turn a massive settlement into action to combat opioid addiction, as Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced members of a group overseeing the state's share.
The Bluegrass State will receive $483 million from settlements finalized this year with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three major distributors. It was part of $26 billion in nationwide settlements.
Calling the opioid-addiction epidemic the "greatest public safety challenge of our lifetime,” Cameron announced the members of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission.
Half of Kentucky's settlement will flow directly to cities and counties for opioid-abuse abatement efforts, Cameron said. The commission will oversee the state's half. The massive infusion, coming in installments over a number of years, means “we stand on the cusp of truly turning this epidemic around,” the attorney general said. Projects will include intervention, treatment and recovery services as the commission manages distribution of settlement funds, he said.
The commission is expected to meet soon as it sets a framework for distributing the funds.
“I encourage all those that are in this fight to give serious thought to how these dollars can be best utilized, what programs are needed, what group can we walk alongside and assist in the good work that they’re already doing and how can these funds break the cycle of addiction,” Cameron said at a news conference.
Commission members include state Treasurer Allison Ball, state Rep. Danny Bentley and state Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander. Other members include stakeholders from the prevention and treatment community, law enforcement and victims of the opioid crisis.
W. Bryan Hubbard will serve as the commission's executive director. He currently serves as executive director of the attorney general’s Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control. He previously worked in the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Referring to the deadly toll from opioid addiction, Hubbard said: “We aim to honor the dead, to heal the living yet afflicted and to break the yoke of this scourge on our people.”
With the commission's membership being announced, Bentley said: “We are one step closer to providing the tools needed to address this scourge.” Bentley was appointed to the commission by the Kentucky House speaker, Cameron's office said.
Fatal drug overdoses surged in Kentucky during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rising death toll was driven by opioid abuse and a key factor was the prevalence of fentanyl. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid increasingly added to other illicit drugs to boost potency.
Cameron's predecessor as attorney general, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, aggressively pursued legal action against drugmakers and distributors in battling the state's opioid addiction woes. Cameron is among a growing number of Republicans running for governor next year, when Beshear will seek a second term.
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