Beshear says tackling drug epidemic remains top priority

andy-beshear-11-23
andy-beshear-11-23

Attorney General Andy Beshear said the opioid drug epidemic in Kentucky will continue to be one of his major focuses in 2018.

“You will see additional lawsuits filed in the very near future,” he told reporters on Wednesday, as he nears the end of his second year in office.  “These are multi-national companies that have made billions off products I believe they knew were addictive yet have not spent the first dime on helping families climb out of the devastation these companies have caused.”

He said he will continue multi-state initiatives, such as one in which Democrat Beshear joined Republican West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey to pressure insurance companies to prioritize non-opioid forms of pain management.

“We’re going to be rolling out another large sign-on letter in the future that will hopefully reduce the amount of fentanyl and carfentanil that is making its way into the U.S.,” he said. “So much is coming from other countries and we need to do the things that are certainly within our control to stop that from entering the country.”

Beshear also vowed to continue going after what he termed rogue doctors, pharmacies and suboxone clinics that would wrongfully flood our communities with prescription pills.

“I don’t think there’s any question that the drug epidemic is the single greatest challenge facing Kentucky.  It’s stealing the lives of children from parents, and parents from children.  We’ve had more grandparents raising their grandkids than ever before.  It’s also our single greatest threat to economic development.”

In September, Beshear witnessed the epidemic firsthand when he helped pull an overdosing man from a car in downtown Lexington before an AG staffer administered Narcan to help save the man’s life

“As a community, as a state and as our brother and our sister’s keeper, we must come together to find solutions to this crisis,” Beshear said. “It takes coming to work every day to fight for the inches of progress that save or repair the lives of our loved ones. I’m proud of the work my office is doing to combat substance abuse, but we can’t do it alone.”

However, Beshear said Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration has not been cooperative in efforts to approve a contract with a law firm that has agreed to go after the drug manufacturers on a contingency basis.

“Sadly, the single greatest impediment to this office’s efforts in addressing the drug epidemic has been the Finance Cabinet,” Beshear said.  “I would hope everyone in state government would put politics aside when it comes to addressing our drug epidemic.”

Beshear said the contract they submitted, just like other contingency contracts sent to the Finance and Administration Cabinet, was held longer than any other they’ve sent for review, without any comments coming to his office, then returned with reasons he’s never seen before, some of which didn’t even apply.

“This is too important, so my instructions were ‘do everything we can that they’ve asked, even if they’re different or out of the ordinary.’  So we resubmitted them, and it’s been another three weeks, which is longer than their guidance says it will ever take to get approved, and we still don’t have any word.

“All I’m asking is that they be a partner in this and treat us fairly.”

Cabinet spokesperson Pamela Trautner issued a statement when asked for comment on Beshear’s remarks:  “The Finance and Administration Cabinet had concerns with some of the language in the proposed contract and has provided the OAG with revisions necessary to ensure the contract complies with the law.”

By Kentucky Today