Executive Director
Van Ingram is the Executive Director for the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy. Van joined ODCP in November 2004, shortly after it was created with the mission of coordinating Kentucky’s substance abuse efforts in enforcement, treatment and prevention/education.
Van served with the Maysville Kentucky Police Department for more than 23 years, the last six as Chief of Police. He is a former President of the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police, and was named “Kentucky Chief of the Year” in 2001. He is a former recipient of the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Law Enforcement, as well as the Melvin Shein Award for distinguished service to Kentucky law enforcement.
Van is a certified law enforcement instructor and has trained officers across the state on a variety of topics, including community oriented policing, interview and interrogation, and time management. He is a frequent speaker on a variety of substance abuse issues and has recently presented to numerous groups and national organizations on the topic of electronically monitoring PSE sales.
Probing Prescription Drug Abuse 
Kentucky's prescription-drug abuse epidemic is a sad tale of broken lives and shattered communities: more crime, more children in foster care, and soaring numbers of accidental overdoses and deaths. Health Three60 talks with three officials on the front lines about this crisis and features personal stories from recovering addicts.
Program Guests
Kentucky is the third most medicated states in the country and the drugs of choice in the Bluegrass State are prescription pain pills. Schedule 2 narcotics, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, are highly addictive, but record amounts of the drugs are being consumed.
From the streets of the cities to suburban homes, the number of deaths and addiction in Kentucky is skyrocketing.
The statistics outlined in a presentation from the Director of Kentucky’s Drug Control Policy Office, are staggering -- nearly 1,000 deaths from drug overdoses; more than 5,000 overdose patients arriving at hospitals.
Van Ingram, Executive Director of the KY Office of Drug Control Policy , said the stats prove pain pills are killing more people than heroin and crack cocaine combined.
Ingram said it’s clear that Kentucky is dealing with an epidemic.
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Gov. Beshear announces interstate task force to shut down prescription drug pipeline in Kentucky |
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Kentucky teams up with Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia to share ideas and efforts.
“We have a tremendous prescription drug problem in the Commonwealth that we have battled for years. We do a good job from a law enforcement standpoint, but by working together, we can better identify prescribers, dispensers and patients who are exploiting our borders in order to abuse, misuse or divert prescription drugs,” Gov. Beshear said. “Our partnership with the governors and their law enforcement agencies in these neighboring states will give us an extremely effective tool to fight this abuse.”
Kentucky’s coalition on the task force includes representatives from the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet; the Kentucky State Police; the Office of Drug Control Policy, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Kentucky’s Office of Homeland Security, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas or HIDTA; Operation Unite; the Governor’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office.
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Partnership for a Drug-Free Kentucky |
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In early March 2008, the Office of Drug Control Policy, in collaboration with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, began a statewide public service announcement (PSA) campaign to air professionally produced localized media messages in a sustained effort to reduce the incidence of substance abuse in the Commonwealth. That collaboration brings more than $6 million in professionally produced PSAs to Kentucky.
Addiction is the single greatest preventable illness in the country, and like other diseases, it affects not just the person with the illness, but also family and friends.
Parents and children are inundated with media messages about drug use and abuse among celebrities and major sports figures. The benefits from the Partnership allow Kentucky to counter those negative messages with positive prevention strategies. This is another initiative KY-ASAP & the ODCP are doing to support the reduction of youth substance use.
The Office of Drug Control Policy urges all media outlets across Kentucky to participate in the Partnership for a Drug-Free Kentucky Campaign, by running the messages to “un-sell” drugs to Kentucky’s youth.
Research has shown if a child hears or sees one anti-drug message a day, they are 38% less likely to use drugs.
When a parent is talking to a child about drugs on a regular basis, the child is 52% less likely to use drugs.
We feel very encouraged and inspired with our ability to make a difference.
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