Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear took emergency action Monday to ban the sale of “designer Xanax,” responding to a request from his state's attorney general who is leading a broader effort to combat the highly potent synthetic drug linked to dozens of overdose deaths last year in the Bluegrass State.
Beshear's action in his state comes as a coalition of 21 attorneys general, led by Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, is urging the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to take emergency action banning the unregulated drug. It poses a growing public health threat and is increasingly contributing to overdose deaths, the attorneys general said in a letter dated Monday to DEA Administrator Terry Cole.
