Harm reduction is just one approach to tackling the drug crisis, as you heard Mackenzie talk about.

And the drug crisis includes more than just opioids, fentanyl and methamphetamine.

The state's top cop made this issue a key cornerstone of his campaign two years ago, and his professional credentials as a former FBI agent and U.S. attorney help inform his approach and dedication to the problem.

Yesterday, I spoke with Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman about how his office is not just promoting more collaboration among law enforcement, but also focusing on prevention that especially targets Kentucky's youth.

We do know that we're making some great progress nationwide.

And in Kentucky, overdose deaths have been trending downward.

Perhaps not as fast as you would like, but any decrease is worth celebrating.

Can you contextualize that for us about those decreases and maybe what's causing them?

So I celebrate.

We all celebrate every life saved.

Any percentile decrease.

But Renee, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves at last year, 2023, the year that we had the most up to date data, we lost 1984 Kentuckians just one almost 2000 Kentuckians.

It was the year before about 2200 Kentuckians in a small state.

Now, I went to law school to avoid math.

But I will tell you.

And statistics sometimes can can blow over folks.

But what that equates to is one at a time.

There are names associated with every one of those 1984.

There are empty seats in the pews.

Next to us.

There are empty seats at kitchen tables.

There are devastated families.

There are bombs that aren't there.

There are kids that aren't coming home, young kids that we're losing.

We, are prosecuting.

Case of a young man, 17 year old young man from West Greene on a scholarship to college.

Took a what?

Yeah.

What appeared to be a Percocet, a pain medication.

Going to school on a scholarship, full ride scholarship.

His father found him the next day.

I'm not out of respect for his family going to not mention his name.

His.

His photo is on my phone.

The photo of him at his scholarship, signing with his family, with his friends, with his high school on my phone.

Yeah, we're doing better.

And I celebrate every one of those lives.

But we have a long, long way to go.

Think about how law enforcement, of course, that's been your through line, through everything that you've done in your professional career.

But to think about how do you get to young people before they get to college and think, well, I'm going to try this Adderall because I need more focus, not knowing that it's laced with deadly fentanyl right in your question is a good one.

If there's one takeaway from our conversation, I want to flag that we exist in an environment where one pill, one pill and that doesn't.

That pill can resemble Adderall.

It can resemble something in your medicine cabinet, unless that pill comes from your physician and you're taking it as prescribed, you are playing Russian roulette with your life.

So when we talk about prevention, it's kids 13 to 26 and it is using this using influencers, social media influencers, using social media platforms, using deals with nil deals with UK with you avail and your alma mater with Western for influencers to look at that camera.

Renee and say Trent Noa for instance UK from from Harlan an awesome message or Javon Hadley at the University of Louisville looking at that camera and the message essentially saying, you want to wear this jersey, you want to be like me, you want to play on this court, you're better without it.

Why?

The campaign is called better without It.

And I'll admit to you, I'm a I viewed that as a little Pollyanna on the front end.

It is what's known as a positivity driven message.

I've had this practice saying that I want to beat that podium and say, don't do it right, but the data says we have to give kids agency that they're smart, and they listen to social media influencers and their peers and their peers.

And so why not leverage this and their peers to get a positivity driven message?

They're focused on health.

They're focused on bettering themselves.

So let's now there are some that say, well, there are populations you can never get to, but we're going to save as many lives as we can.

The data this has been done in Florida and Broward County and other counties in Florida.

So we're scaling it up.

It is statewide.

It is using starting with athletes.

We're going to use other social media influencers that we can get down to a zip code.

We can look at a zip code.

Katy sits at 400 502.

I think we can identify who are the most impactful social media influencers in your neighborhood.

And then how do we if they're the right messenger, we're only going to use the right messengers.

How do we use them to get out there?

Hey, you're better off without it.

I'm better.

Being healthy, building positive relationships, having a sense of self, taking care of myself, exercising again might sound Pollyanna on its face, but this has been proven to work elsewhere.

And we are doing it here.

Not with taxpayer dollars either.

We're using opioid settlement dollars money from the opioid lawsuits.

Those that brought this crisis here are paying for it.