FRANKFORT, Ky. (November 2, 2023) – In 2022, we lost over 2,000 Kentuckians to overdose. And we have lost 7,665 Kentuckians to overdose since 2019—that’s a 60% increase in just a few years. Kentucky is clearly in crisis.
“Fentanyl kills six Kentuckians per day. That’s unacceptable,” said Attorney General Daniel Cameron. “We deserve so much better, and I know we can get there. I’m fighting to build a better, safer Commonwealth free from addiction and fentanyl poisoning.”
Demanding a Federal Response
The Biden Administration has abandoned Kentucky. With fentanyl pouring across the southern border and into our communities, President Biden’s team has put illegal aliens and ruthless cartels ahead of the American people.
So in March, General Cameron explained to Attorney General Merrick Garland how relaxing criminal penalties for fentanyl traffickers incentivizes crime and how supporting supervised injection sites gives the federal government’s stamp of approval to profoundly dangerous drug activities. Attorney General Garland failed to respond. In July, General Cameron implored Secretary of State Antony Blinken to crack down on fentanyl precursor production in China and to declare Mexican cartels what they are: foreign terrorist organizations. Secretary Blinken failed to respond. And earlier in October, General Cameron demanded that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas get control of our borders and end the Administration’s soft-on-crime policies that have contributed to the fentanyl flooding our communities. Predictably, Secretary Mayorkas failed to respond.
General Cameron even sent a letter to President Biden exposing his Administration’s inaction in the face of this American carnage. To date, President Biden has not responded either. It’s a deafening silence to which Kentuckians have become accustomed.
Real Leadership for Kentucky
Not content to simply file lawsuits, General Cameron has focused on real recovery—and he has delivered. He secured nearly $900 million from the companies that pushed pills onto our people, and he worked with the General Assembly to get those dollars into communities as fast as possible. Much of that money is already making a difference in the Commonwealth.
Operation Fight Fentanyl
The courtroom isn’t the only front in the fight against drugs. So General Cameron is doing something else: listening. In February, he launched Operation Fight Fentanyl, an initiative to combat the drug epidemic by hearing directly from law enforcement, local leaders, and citizens about how illicit fentanyl is devastating their communities. In forums and town halls across the Commonwealth, General Cameron has met with thousands of Kentuckians in some of our hardest-hit areas.
Attorney General Cameron is on a mission to heal our Commonwealth. Thanks to his hard work there is hope. To learn more about General Cameron’s efforts to tackle the drug epidemic, click here.