PENCE SAYS DRUG PLAN WILL FOCUS ON TREATMENT

Report Generated From Summits Across State

In less than a month, Gov. Ernie Fletcher will lay out an initiative
to battle illegal drug use in Kentucky, a plan that will have
benefited from information gleaned from 14 drug summits held across
the state.

"The drug problem is at epidemic proportions and should be treated as
an epidemic," said Lt. Gov. Steve Pence, who addressed the Owensboro
Rotary Club on Wednesday at the Owensboro Country Club.

Pence, a former U.S. attorney, said young people today have to deal
with methamphetamine, Ecstasy and oxycontin -- all "devastating drugs"
worse than the marijuana and beer that young people encountered years
ago.

"A person on methamphetamine is apt to do anything with a gun or a
knife, and police face it every day," Pence said. "The governor and I
hope to deal with (the drug problem) in a smarter way."

Treatment for drug abusers will be a central feature of the plan,
Pence said, which is better for the individual and the community.

"We will not incarcerate our way out of the problem," he said. "We
can't afford it."

The summits looked at the scope of the drug problem, what assets are
available to fight it and what works and what does not, Pence said.

As for the state not having a budget more than a half-month into the
2004-05 fiscal year, Pence called it a calamity.

"I hope they get it worked out. . . . It's disheartening that twice
now they've walked out without a budget."

The 2004 General Assembly adjourned without a budget, as did the 2002
General Assembly. Fletcher has held out for a budget bill that
includes changes in state taxes, often referred to as tax
modernization. The House and Senate could not agree on any plan.

"In my opinion, any compromise has to tend toward who won the last
election," Pence said. "Governor Fletcher is the person the people
said they wanted to lead."

Tax changes are necessary, Pence said, because the state does not have
a steady, predictable stream of revenue.

Pence closed by saying that the state realizes that Owensboro is the
economic hub in this part of the state, and its two public colleges
need to train workers for the area.