For years, Kentucky families endured relentless heartbreak as overdose deaths continued to rise. But new data is offering a reason to hope—overdose deaths are down more than 30% statewide, the largest year-over-year decrease Kentucky has ever recorded.
Experts said wider access to treatment is playing a major role in saving lives.
One of those lives belongs to Mandy Fisher.
“I have goals, I have ambition, I have dreams, I have wants. I see things more clearly now,” Fisher said.
Her perspective today is a world away from where she once was—caught in a cycle of addiction she couldn’t break.
“It was chaos, unmanageable,” she said. “I wanted so bad to quit using, but I was always right back there again—the same thing, doing the same thing, in a hopeless battle.”
Now, more than three years sober, Fisher credits her recovery to Groups Recover Together, a treatment center with locations across Kentucky focused on helping people heal without judgment.
“They don’t show judgment, they don’t hold your past against you, they don’t put you down,” she said. “It’s very rewarding.”
Groups Recover Together combines medication-assisted treatment with therapy and community support. The program reports that nearly 100% of members who stay in care for at least six months reach remission.
Ashley Metzger, the clinical supervisor at Groups, said conversations around addiction have shifted in recent years, and that’s made a difference.
“The more we have been able to talk about it over these last years, and the more prevalent it has become in society, it is almost forcing a wakeup call to the rest of the world,” Metzger said. “This isn’t going to go away just because I close my eyes about it. We need to do something.”
Kentucky’s Office of Drug Control Policy said fentanyl and meth remain the leading causes of overdose deaths. In 2023, fentanyl was involved in more than 62% of fatal overdoses, while meth was present in over half.
Still, with overdose deaths finally trending downward, recovery advocates are urging continued investment in programs that work.
For Fisher, the support she found through treatment, and the belief others had in her made all the difference.
“It’s everything,” she said. “It’s the sense to keep going. To know that they’re proud of you and you’re proud of yourself… because three years ago, I would’ve never said that I could get out of bed daily without getting high first. And now, that’s not even an option.”
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