Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced Monday the distribution of $13.9 million in grants to organizations fighting the opioid epidemic through recovery and prevention services in Kentucky.?

Standing in the Capitol Rotunda, Cameron called the opioid crisis the “public safety challenge of our lifetime” that continues to be “unacceptable.”?

“We could have the finest schools, the lowest taxes and the region’s most ambitious economic development plans,” he said. “But none of that matters if drugs continue to take thousands of Kentucky lives and wreak havoc on thousands of Kentucky families each year.”?

The funds were allocated by the 11-member Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, whose job it is to distribute the state’s more than $800 million in opioid settlement funds.?

Although Kentucky saw its first decline in fatal overdoses since 2018 last year, 2,135 Kentuckians died from an overdose in 2022. Most of those deaths were from opioids, especially fentanyl, the Lantern previously reported.?

“The opioid epidemic has plagued our people for far too long,” Cameron said. “This money that the commission has allocated – we’re certainly hopeful that it will start to stem the tide of this epidemic.”??

The recovery and prevention grant recipients and their awards are:?

• Franklin County Women and Family Shelter – $134,750??
• Kentucky River Foothills Development Council – $500,000?
• Recovery Cafe of Lexington – $657,000
• Feed Louisville – $500,000
• Oxford House – $500,000?
• Voices of Hope – $1 million
• Ramey Estep Homes –? $578,800
• Stable Recovery – $300,000?
• Sterling Health Solutions – $575,280
• Enrich – $595,213
• Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky – $320,000
• Faithlife Ministries –? $225,000
• Freedom Management Company – $500,000?
• Fresh Start Health Centers – $300,000
• Brace Community Health Center – $205,000?
• Hope for Harrison County Recovery – $123,349
• KVC Behavioral Health Care Kentucky – $400,000?
• Manchester Memorial – $250,000
• Serenity Counseling Services – $355,000
• Thrive Community Coalition –? $376,000
• The Healing PLace – $850,00
• The Jeffersontown Police Department – $26,000
• The Kentucky Center for Grieving Children and Families – $269,000
• ?Franklin County Health Department – $300,000
• Morgan’s Mission – $4,000
• The Children’s Law Center – $250,000
• Franklin County Agency for Substance Abuse Policy – $126,000
• QRT national O2SL, a Division of Homeland Security Solutions –? $750,000?
• Kentucky Health Departments Association – $1 million
• Kentucky Youth Advocates – $93,000?
• SOAR – $600,000?
• Boyd County Detention Center – $45,200
• Healing Hearts – $200,000
• Northern Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy – $1 million

This story may be updated.?