The debate over heroin legislation in Kentucky will continue over the next week. The state House Wednesday night voted on a second version of the bill which includes penalties for traffickers, treatment funding, and a needle exchange provision. Judiciary Committee Chair John Tilley has led the heroin legislation effort in the House. "I think this bill once passed, will represent the most comprehensive, common sense, evidence based, data driven approach to what is a public health epidemic," said Tilley.
The measure approved unanimously for a second time by House members calls for $10 million dollars to further drug treatment. The bill also includes a needle exchange option for individual communities. That's something House Minority Caucus Chair Stan Lee does not support. "I would prefer that there would be no needle exchange in there,” said Lee. “The bill that was just passed out of here did have the local option on it again to allow local health departments to make that decision."
The Senate did not go along with the changes contained in the bill, so conference committee members will meet to try to iron out a compromise. Tilley says he hopes an agreement can be reached before the General Assembly returns to consider any gubernatorial vetoes the week of March 23.?
