New drug addiction recovery bill would aid Ky.

Kentucky would receive federal aid to fight the heroin and opioid addictions and overdoses, according to a bill U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell touted during a speech Thursday in Washington on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.

McConnell said his home state of Kentucky "is among the hardest hit by this epidemic. More people are dying from drug overdoses than car crashes in the Commonwealth, and that’s largely due to prescription opioids and heroin."

He said CARA "will help save lives."

This is an authorization bill that approves $80 million for programs focused on treatment, education, prevention and recovery. But the bill currently doesn't provide new money. It gained approval last month by the Senate Judiciary Committee and is now on the Senate floor. The full Senate could vote on the measure as early as next week.

Van Ingram, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, has met a few times with McConnell's staff to urge passage of the bill.

“I’m really pleased this opioid epidemic is getting the attention it deserves at the national level at the highest levels,” Ingram said Thursday. “There’s just a lot contained here that’s moving in the right direction.”

Some representatives and senators have publicly criticized the bill for not including additional money.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. told USA Today in February that "endless Senate speeches won't mean more beds in treatment centers," with Senate Democrats pushing for a $600 million "emergency spending bill" for prevention, treatment and recovery programs.

McConnell said Congress has already appropriated $400 million, funds that are still available, for opioid-specific programs and that discussions on appropriations for CARA are expected this spring.

The Republican senator touted efforts by the Harm Reduction Coalition for providing training on overdose prevention, such as educating residents on naloxone, a heroin antidote that briefly restores breathing. The bill would facilitate grants for the coalition and expand access to naloxone to additional law enforcement and first-responders, McConnell said.

The bill also contains a law enforcement component, authorizing the U.S. Attorney General approve grants to bolster drug task forces that target illegal trafficking and distribution of heroin, fentanyl and prescription opioids.

CARA also aims to improve treatment for veterans as well as both pregnant and postpartum women who have abused drugs by reauthorizing an existing grant program and approving a pilot program to enhance treatment options, McConnell said.

On its website, the NAADAC, the association for addiction professionals, called CARA "the most expansive federal, bipartisan legislation to date for addiction support services."

Kim Moser, Director of the Northern Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, said in a news release that CARA will expand treatment resources for those suffering to "allow individuals, families and communities to heal from this scourge."

Reporter Beth Warren can be reached at 502-582-7164 or bwarren@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at BethWarrenCJ.