The first ever Kentucky Open Opioid symposium kicked off yesterday.

The event featured presentations from law enforcement agencies, nonprofits and more to discuss developments in the fight against the drug epidemic.

This is the first Opioid Abatement Commission conference, so it's an opportunity to bring together thought leaders and talk about the opioid addiction issue in the Commonwealth in particular.

Things that the managed care companies are involved with are things like peer support, recovery, housing, which was the result of some legislation from a few years ago known as Senate Bill 90.

So it's a great opportunity to get people together and talk about those concerns and look at plans to move forward.

A lot of times in the legal system or in the criminal justice system, we don't see the options out there and we don't see what is happening outside of our little box.

Right.

It has so much potential to make such great changes because now what we're doing is we're communicating and we're we're we're able to communicate hard and get and get those types of services.

And I will say this.

It doesn't matter if we're all doing something similar.

The point is, is we should all be doing something.

What we're hoping to spread the awareness about are the pitfalls of fentanyl, the danger associated with fentanyl.

Many don't realize what a microscopic amount is.

Lethal, and any time a pill is consumed, there's no way to know the exact amount of the product that's in the pills.

And it's playing Russian roulette.

One pill can kill.

Many don't realize how deadly it is.

Many that consume the pill one time.

It's not the recreational drug users.

It's not the it just one time can kill high school students.

College students are most at risk because they don't realize the danger associated with it.

Two milligrams is enough to kill the average person, depending on white tolerance and genetic factors or just bringing an awareness is the most important thing and reducing the availability.

I came here today to talk about Senate Bill 90, which is our new behavioral health conditional dismissal program.

In general, we've seen amazing results.

So it is really new and it's kind of taken us a little while to get it going and to get the ball rolling.

But what we have seen so far is that we're changing lives and it's just it's exciting to see that people are getting all the services they need.

So we are we're getting them that clinical assessment.

We're taking them in.

We're determined if they have a need, if they have a substance use disorder or a behavioral health and mental health disorder.

If they do, then we're taking them into the program.

We're assessing them not just for their mental health needs or their substance use disorder needs, but also the whole package so we can help them get a job.

If they need housing, we can help them get housing.

If they need transportation to get to a provider, we can help them with that.

One of the things that's been surprising for me is I've attended different outreach programs in the state is what I perceive to be something that was really a rural problem is in fact as much an urban problem as a rural problem.

In particular.

If you think about the community here in Lexington, also in Louisville, where we've seen dramatic increases in homelessness and what the relationship is between opioid and fentanyl usage and homelessness and that impact.

Hopefully these funds that Kentucky has been awarded will make a difference in the lives of all Kentuckians.

Kentucky has been devastated over the last two decades by opioid abuse, and these funds, we are optimistic, will make a difference and righting the ship back to where it needs to be.

After two days of discussions, the symposium wrapped up this afternoon.