PRESS  RELEASE

Con­tact: Clay­ton Brown, Phone num­ber 859–280-8259

Jan­u­ary 5, 2023

Coun­cil­woman Gray and African Amer­i­can Faith Lead­ers Spon­sor Opi­oid Com­mis­sion to Con­vene a Town Hall to Address the Opi­oid Cri­sis in the Black Community

LFUCG Coun­cil­woman, Denise Gray, has part­nered with the Ken­tucky Opi­oid Abate­ment Advi­so­ry Com­mis­sion, and Con­sol­i­dat­ed Bap­tist Church to address a grow­ing cri­sis of opi­oid over­dos­es with­in the Black com­mu­ni­ty at a town hall to take place on Tues­day, Jan­u­ary 17 at 6 PM at Con­sol­i­dat­ed Bap­tist Church locat­ed at 1625 Rus­sell Cave Road.

“There is a mis­con­cep­tion amongst many that opi­oid addic­tion, over­dos­es, and deaths are not affect­ing the Black com­mu­ni­ty. As of last year, the num­ber one group dying of opi­oid over­dos­es are Black males. The Com­mis­sion has been tasked with ensur­ing funds from the opi­oid set­tle­ment, help those direct­ly affect­ed. This is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to direct­ly address spe­cif­ic needs with­in the com­mu­ni­ty and to learn how to apply for grants to deal with this cri­sis,” says Coun­cil­woman Gray. “As coun­cil­woman, it is my goal to do work that improves the lives of all Lex­ing­to­ni­ans, but also com­mu­ni­ties who are underrepresented.”

The Ken­tucky Opi­oid Abate­ment Advi­so­ry Com­mis­sion was cre­at­ed by the Gen­er­al Assem­bly’s unan­i­mous pas­sage of House Bill 427, which Attor­ney Gen­er­al Cameron sup­port­ed along­side oth­er leg­is­la­tors, the Ken­tucky League of Cities, and the Ken­tucky Asso­ci­a­tion of Coun­ties.  The Com­mis­sion com­pris­es of nine vot­ing and two non-vot­ing mem­bers and includes stake­hold­ers from, among oth­ers, the pre­ven­tion and treat­ment com­mu­ni­ty, law enforce­ment, and vic­tims of the opi­oid crisis.
The Com­mis­sion’s pur­pose is to dis­trib­ute the Com­mon­wealth’s por­tion of the over $842 mil­lion from set­tle­ments Attor­ney Gen­er­al Cameron reached, in 2022, with opi­oid com­pa­nies for their role in exac­er­bat­ing the dead­ly opi­oid crisis.
Orga­ni­za­tions and indi­vid­u­als ded­i­cat­ed to com­bat­ting the opi­oid epi­dem­ic may begin the sub­mis­sion process by going to

https://www.ag.ky.gov/Priorities/Tackling-the-Drug-Epidemic/Pages/default.aspx.

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