Eight anti-drug programs receive funding through KY Justice Cabinet

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – The Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet says eight program areas in Kentucky will receive a total of $15.7 million dollars from the state budget to fight heroin and substance abuse.

The funding will help support treatment in communities and jails, alternative sentencing programs, and care for expectant mothers who are struggling with drug addiction.

Funding for fiscal year 2017 includes:

• The Department of Corrections (DOC) will receive $1 million for substance abuse treatment programs that help county inmates in local jails. DOC also will receive $1 million to help state inmates in local jails and $1 million for a Naltrexone pilot program. Naltrexone is a medication that helps stave off the desire to use opioids and can be administered to inmates as they leave custody.

• Community mental health centers will receive more than $4.3 million to provide substance abuse treatment in local communities throughout the state.

• The Kentucky Agency for Substance Abuse Policy will receive $2.75 million to support substance abuse programs across the state.

• The Department of Public Advocacy will receive $1.75 million to fund its social worker program, which helps develop alternative sentencing plans.

• The Prosecutors Advisory Council will receive $1.2 million to support “rocket docket” prosecutions in cases that involve controlled substances. That matches another $1 million that the council will receive from elsewhere in the budget for a total of $2.2 million.

• Established programs that provide services related to neonatal abstinence syndrome and help pregnant women with addiction will be able to apply for $2.5 million in grants.