LOUISVILLE, KY -- U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell spoke with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Acting-Director Michael Botticelli on Wednesday about Kentucky’s widespread drug abuse challenges and to advocate on behalf of Nelson and Madison counties’ application for inclusion into the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). In 2012, Senator McConnell pushed for the successful inclusion of Hardin County into Appalachia HIDTA.

“I appreciate Director Botticelli’s continued focus on the prescription drug epidemic and the emerging abuse of heroin that is impacting Kentucky, and I strongly support the inclusion of Nelson and Madison counties into Appalachia HIDTA,” Senator McConnell said. “The expansion of Nelson and Madison counties will result in local access to federal law enforcement, training, and technology resources to combat threats from prescription drugs and other dangerous drugs like heroin. Access to these resources have already proved beneficial to Hardin County’s efforts to address this problem, which is why I am proud to have successfully advocated for their inclusion into Appalachia HIDTA in 2012.”

Kentucky has the nation’s third-highest mortality rate from drug overdoses, which is largely driven by prescription painkillers. According to the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, about 1,000 Kentuckians a year fatally overdose on drugs—more than are lost to car crashes. Heroin deaths continue to climb and accounted for 32 percent of the drug overdose deaths last year.

Senator McConnell has a long history of helping raise awareness on the issue of prescription drug abuse by working closely with federal, state and local medical authorities, treatment centers, and law-enforcement offices.  In 2011, he brought White House National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske to Kentucky to witness firsthand the scope of the problem.  Senator McConnell also fought for the expansion of the Appalachia HIDTA to hard-hit Jefferson County in 2009 and Hardin County in 2012.  He also worked to secure federal grants for many community prevention and treatment efforts, and helped to successfully convince the FDA to take an important step toward limiting the abuse of generic crushable prescription pain pills.  In May, 2014, Senator McConnell testified before the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control on heroin and prescription drug abuse following a listening session he held in Florence, Kentucky, earlier this year.  Most recently, Senator McConnell introduced the Protecting Our Infants Act in the U.S. Senate, which is designed to address maternal addiction the scourge of opiate withdrawal in newborns, as well as their mothers.