Pence aims to UNITE the state.

Lt. Governor, Steve Pence, is urging the spread of the anti-drug program UNITE from Eastern Kentucky to the rest of the state. Read it here. The Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education (UNITE) was founded in 2003 by U. S. Rep. Hal Rogers, who has directed more than $33 million in federal funds for the program through 2009. To UNITE the state, more funding is needed. I must confess I do not know much about the program or how successful it is. However, in my view, considering that the scourge of drugs has reached epidemic proportions and is fastly destroying families in our Commonwealth on a daily basis, Pence's call to extend the UNITE program (assuming it has proven successful) to areas other than Eastern Kentucky should be answered. Maybe, now that we have U. S. Rep. Ben Chandler joining Hal Rogers on the House Appropriations Committee, Senator Mitch McConnell on the Senate side (and Senator Jim Bunning on the Budget committee), we can expect our Congressional delegation to find additional federal funds (together with any available state funds) to get this idea off the ground and running.