Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed his concern over growing heroin abuse in his home state of Kentucky on Wednesday, Cincinnati.com reported.
McConnell told the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control that addiction rates are particularly bad in Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties.
Though those three counties make up less than 10 percent of Kentucky's population, they accounted for 60 percent of heroin cases in 2011.
"It is a major problem not for a few but for the entire region," McConnell said. "And while Northern Kentucky may be ground zero in my state, the problem of heroin abuse is spreading like a cancer across the Bluegrass State, where we are losing close to 100 fellow Kentuckians a month to drug-related deaths. ... This is more lives lost than to fatal car crashes."
State law enforcement and health professionals are struggling to deal with the increase of drug cases involving heroin, according to Cincinnati.com.
In March, the Republican senator held a conference with public officials, medical experts, and community leaders on how to address the rampant addiction rates.
McConnell claimed the increase is a direct result of doctors and medical professionals cracking down on prescribing prescription pain medication to patients so frequently -- prompting drug addicts to rely on heroin. To prevent a further incline, he believes addiction treatment and jail time would be effective methods.
McConnell was one of several people to speak before the Senate panel. Michael Botticelli, acting director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, suggested doctors should become educated about when to prescribe painkillers for patients and when to suggest alternative treatments.
"It's very clear this is driven by well-meaning physicians in many cases who do not understand the lethalities, the addictive properties" of the prescription medications, Botticelli said.
