WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers (KY-05) announced today that the Bureau of Justice Assistance has awarded $600,000 through the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) to help combat drug abuse in Kentucky. The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (KIPRC) plans to utilize the funding to educate prescribers and pharmacists about the data included the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting (KASPER) program. KIPRC and a team of researchers will hold quarterly action team meetings to evaluate changes in prescribing practices and abuse trends.

"While Kentucky continues to have some of the highest drug overdose rates in the country, we're also leading the charge to save lives and stop illegal drug trade nationwide," said Congressman Rogers, co-founding co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse. "KASPER is one of the most functional tools we have to track opioid prescribing and drug abuse trends in our state and this funding will help us utilize the data to improve the accuracy of our efforts."

The funding is part of the fiscal year 2017 Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program to improve collaboration and strategic decision-making of regulatory and law enforcement agencies and public health officials to address prescription drug and opioid misuse, save lives and reduce crime.

“KASPER has long been a vital tool in our fight against prescription drug abuse in Kentucky, and recent legislative actions are designed to enhance the effectiveness of KASPER,” said Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Vickie Yates Brown Glisson. “The Office of Inspector General is delighted to collaborate with the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center to evaluate the impact of legislative actions in reducing substance use disorder and drug overdose deaths in the Commonwealth.”

The program is part of the bipartisan Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) signed into law last summer.