Prescription Drug Summit Draws Kentucky Leaders

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Top health leaders and lawmakers from Kentucky who are trying to end multi-state prescription drug trafficking and abuse are meeting in Florida this week.

The National Rx Drug Abuse Summit, which runs Tuesday through Thursday in Orlando, is being organized by the eastern Kentucky anti-drug group Operation UNITE and will feature remarks by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina M. Benjamin and R. Gil Kerlikowkse, the nation's "drug czar.''

Karen Kelly, president of Operation UNITE, says Kentucky is not an island when it comes to prescription drug abuse, which kills more Kentuckians than car wrecks.

Beshear said in a statement the summit will build a critical "mass of urgency'' including law enforcement, government and the medical community.