New breakthrough could help treat those affected by opioid use disorder

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Members of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission met to discuss new possible therapeutic treatment options.

The proposal would allow the commission to investigate new treatments for the addiction.

The chairman of the group said at a news conference on Wednesday that a new breakthrough medicine could be a solution. He said when administered, it can reverse the brain to pre-opioid exposure levels.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron was there to talk about the effect the drug has had on Kentuckians.

“Each overdose death signifies much more than a mere number on a page, more than a dot on a map,” Cameron said. “Every loss was someone’s son or daughter, father or mother, friend or neighbor.”

While overdose deaths in Kentucky were down 5% in 2022, they are still up 60% since 2019, claiming the lives of over 7,500 Kentuckians over that three-year period.