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Guthrie talks drug abuse, trafficking with area officials

Guthrie talks drug abuse, trafficking with area officials

Rep. Brett Guthrie met with area law enforcement officers and elected officials Thursday morning to discuss how drug trafficking and substance abuse is affecting communities.

The goal of the listening session, Guthrie said afterward, was to gather information that could impact future federal legislation, and share ideas.

Guthrie, a Bowling Green Republican, met with officials from multiple agencies, including the Owensboro Police Department, Daviess County and Ohio County sheriff’s offices, Kentucky State Police, chiefs of area police departments and elected officials such as Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson and Daviess Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen.

Guthrie discussed federal legislation, while state Rep. DJ Johnson, an Owensboro Republican, and state Sen. Gary Boswell, a Daviess County Republican, discussed possible drug-related bills in Frankfort.

Agencies sharing information about substance abuse and trafficking “is absolutely important,” Guthrie said. “As we know when we shape policy at the federal level, it effects what’s going on” in communities. “It’s valuable information.”

Guthrie said one of his goals for the year in Congress is reauthorization of the SUPPORT Act, which Guthrie introduced in 2018. The bill provides services to people in treatment or recovering from substance abuse by providing additional services to help them find success once they leave treatment.

People who go through substance abuse treatment may leave with the intention of staying off drugs, but they can relapse if they don’t have access to long-term recovery services, Guthrie said.

“What we are trying to focus on is, ‘How do we get people into sober living?” Guthrie said.

Officials discussed issues such as the speed in which drug cases move through the justice system. Law enforcement officials said there are times a person arrested on a drug charge is bonded out while their case is pending and picks up a second or third offense before the first case has concluded.

Officials also discussed mandatory minimum sentences. Guthrie said some Washington lawmakers are opposed to any mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders, which has collided with efforts by Guthrie and others to make fentanyl analogues a Schedule I controlled substance. An FDA Schedule I controlled substance is considered to have no medical value while being highly addictive.

“What we’ve done in budget bills is schedule fentanyl analogues,” but Guthrie said the effort has been blocked by lawmakers who want changes to mandatory sentences.

City Police Chief Art Ealum said there is a difference between a person addicted to drugs and people trafficking for profit.

Ealum said OPD officers recently made an arrest of a person carrying fentanyl that had been pressed into pill form. The individual had thousands of pills, Ealum said.

“Users don’t carry thousands of pills,” Ealum said.

When asked if the priority should be on helping people with addiction or prosecuting traffickers, Guthrie said, “we have to do both.”

Johnson and Boswell said they expect legislators will consider bills dealing with fentanyl and other drug-related issues in next year’s General Assembly session, but those bills hadn’t been unveiled yet. Boswell said a focus for him are items that contain THC that are sold commercially, such as in convenience stores.

“We are going to have to look at ‘gas station products,’ ” Boswell said after the meeting, and those items are gateway drugs for both adults and youth.

“I’m confident there are going to be some bills,” Boswell said.

Ohio County Sheriff Adam Wright said afterward, “our issue is the (court) case logs are getting backed up tremendously. You are seeing people sitting in jail three years before going to trial. I don’t know if people realize how much that costs the county.

“Something we can say is, ‘Let’s not idle these cases.’ ”

Thursday’s forum was a benefit, Wright said.

“Any time we can get ideas and pass them back and forth is a good thing,” Guthrie said.

Daviess County Sheriff Brad Youngman said of the meeting, “what everyone was here for was trying to find proactive solutions. “People tend to ask, ‘What is the big drug right now?’ Fentanyl is the scariest, but we are seeing everything.

“That’s the big message: If it’s like this in western Kentucky, it’s like this everywhere.”

By Jim Mayse Messenger-Inquirer