The U.S. Drug Czar spent part of his afternoon Tuesday at a Lexington roundtable discussion about positive outcomes for people facing addiction. It included time at a central Kentucky business known for reaching out to those in recovery.
U.S. Office of Drug Control Policy Director Jim Carroll joined Governor Matt Bevin and Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton at DV8 Kitchen. The breakfast, brunch, and lunch business is in its second year of operation. It offers second-chance employment for people in the early stages of recovery.
Carroll said prevention and interdiction advances are being seen in Kentucky. “We now have 24 investments in the communities on prevention efforts with kids 18 and under. We also have sponsored 33 counties in the state on high-intensity drug trafficking areas,” explained Carroll.
Carroll said the federal government is spending nationally roughly $34 billion on law enforcement and drug interdiction and another $34 billion on treatment and prevention.
Kentucky’s Office of Drug Control Policy Director Van Ingram said local chambers of commerce are being asked to investigate replicating the DV8 Kitchen model. “We met with a group of employers recently who told us ‘my employees I have in recovery are the best employees I have, the most dedicated, they show up early they stay late’.”
Ingram says more needs to be done to connect people in recovery with what he termed “good solid jobs.”
Weku's Stu Johnson talked with DV8-Kitchen Owners Rob and Diane Perez for a status report on their second chance business.
