The Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission (KYOAAC) announced this week plans to explore new therapeutic treatment options in Kentucky. Under a proposed plan, KYOAAC would investigate new treatments to reverse the chemical effects of opioid addiction, including withdrawal, through community collaborations and potential public/private partnerships. KYOAAC Chairman and Executive Director Bryan Hubbard said the Commission would seek clinical validation for modern treatments, if necessary.

House Bill 427, a KLC initiative legislators passed in 2021, established the KYOAAC and required half of all opioid abatement money Kentucky receives to go to city and county governments to fund programs. Hubbard called the search for new treatments the Commission’s “next phase.”

“Kentucky must overcome the opioid epidemic by any and all means necessary,” he said. “We must explore any treatment option that demonstrates breakthrough therapeutic potential. Our goal is to investigate the creation of a new standard for treating opioid dependence so we can finally end this cycle of pain in the commonwealth.”

Overdose deaths in the state dropped 5% from 2022 but are up 60% since 2019. In the past three years, 7,665 Kentuckians lost their lives due to an overdose.