WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have extended legislation to prevent overdose deaths and help people recovering from addiction reenter the workforce, with Kentucky members leading the effort.
The House passed the bipartisan SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act this week, led by Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green.
The package improves access to drug treatment and boosts prevention programs, Guthrie said.
“By reauthorizing this important legislation, we are increasing prevention initiatives, reducing drug-related deaths, and restoring hope for families,” Guthrie said in a statement.
The legislation also includes the reauthorization of the CAREER Act, first passed in 2018, and led by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington.
The CAREER Act “provides people in addiction recovery job opportunities, skills training, employment readiness, and gives those individuals the ability to achieve sobriety, recovery and get into meaningful work that gives them purpose and a second chance,” Barr told Spectrum News.
Kara Ball, chief development officer of the Kentucky-based treatment facility Isaiah House, said the CAREER Act has provided $2.5 million in grant funding to the nonprofit over a five-year period.
“With that grant, we were able to use that for our peer recovery support system, which allows folks that are going through recovery to have the support of someone who’s already been through recovery,” said Ball. “We also provide them with the ability to find job leads and how to work those job leads, build their resume.”
The 2024 Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Report shows 1,410 Kentuckians died from a drug overdose last year, a decrease of about 30% from the year before.
“That leaves us still in the top 10 of the nation of overdose deaths,” said Barr. “That’s why we need to reauthorize and increase funding for the CAREER Act.”
“We have proof that our efforts are working to curb the nation’s opioid epidemic and save lives through effective legislation, like the SUPPORT Act and the CAREER Act,” Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, said a statement.
The legislation includes a $7 million annual increase over five years for programs reauthorized under the CAREER Act, raising total funding to $210 million, according to Barr’s office.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introduced the CAREER Act in the Senate in 2018 and filed to reauthorize it this year.
In recent weeks, recovery advocates in Kentucky have raised concerns about potential changes to federal health agencies.
The Trump administration is planning to fold the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) into the new Administration for a Healthy America, saying it will “increase operational efficiency and improve coordination of health resources for low-income Americans.”
“We are literally saving lives here, and so we strongly urge them to be very, very, very cautious when they consider restructuring or making cuts,” Ball told Spectrum News.
