THE DRUG CZAR'S VISIT

The numbers are staggering: We're losing 82 Kentuckians a month to
drug overdose, from the cities to rural areas in Appalachia. Nearly
1,000 of our fellow Kentuckians died from drug overdoses in 2009,
more than those killed in traffic crashes. Last year, law enforcement
responded to 1,100 meth lab sites across the state, up from 738 in
2009. And Kentucky ranks in the top three of marijuana-producing states.

Too many of our children are experimenting with drugs. Kentucky
ranked 8th in the nation for abuse of prescription pain reliever
drugs among 12- to 17-year-olds, and in Eastern Kentucky the average
age when a child first gets high on prescription pills is 11. Drug
abuse persists as a serious problem in all 120 counties of the commonwealth.

But the numbers alone can't tell the whole story. Drug addiction
fuels crime, particularly theft, as abusers steal to support their
habit. Drugs not only hurt the people who abuse them, they rip
families apart. Parents who are addicted will neglect their children
because all they care about is getting high. And I've met too many
families who have lost a child to drug abuse, and will never get to
see their beloved son or daughter grow up.

Fighting drug abuse takes a large bite out of government resources at
the federal, state and local levels. And in this era of
multitrillion-dollar deficits, our government -- at the local, state
and federal levels -- must be more efficient and more effective with
the limited resources that are available.

That's why I encouraged R. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy, to tour Kentucky this
week and get a close-up view of the problems we face in the Bluegrass
State. Known as the country's "drug czar," Kerlikowske, with his
visit, will focus attention on this crisis and inspire new solutions
to deal with it.

Kerlikowske will visit Louisville, Lexington, London and Pikeville to
better understand the scope of Kentucky's drug problem and make an
informed decision on what's necessary to continue the federal
government's commitment to combating drugs in the commonwealth. As a
career law-enforcement officer, he is able to understand what kind of
support Kentucky police need.

For instance, for more than a decade I've worked closely with the
Kentucky National Guard on marijuana eradication in Eastern Kentucky.
Last year, the Guard's efforts led to 493 arrests and 266,000
marijuana plants destroyed, plus many weapons, meth labs and pills seized.

Going forward, we will need to get similar results on a tighter
budget. Getting Kerlikowske down to Kentucky to meet with the Guard
and police officers who direct this effort is invaluable to making
sure Kentucky continues to get all the help it can from the federal government.

The director's visit to get a first-hand look at the drug problem in
Eastern Kentucky will help ensure that our efforts to stem drug use
don't recede there. The Appalachian region has a fatal overdose rate
nearly twice as high as the nation at large. A visit from the drug
czar will mean a lot in Louisville and Lexington, too, where the rate
of deaths from prescription drugs is above the national average.

Kerlikowske's visit to Kentucky is an important step to saving our
family members, friends and neighbors from drug abuse. The nation's
drug czar could travel to a lot of places; I'm glad he accepted my
invitation to come here. But it is still just one step of many. It
will be up to the rest of us -- elected officials, business leaders,
law enforcement, educators, treatment program workers -- to make the
most of the attention his visit will bring, and to continue to focus
on repairing the damages of drug abuse.

Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, is the minority leader in the
U.S. Senate.