The Fight Against Opioid Addiction and Overdose Deaths Continues

According to a 2018 Goucher College poll, 52% of Marylanders say they personally know someone who has been addicted to opioids. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll in 2015 found that nearly 30% of Marylanders had a close friend or relative who was addicted. That's an increase of over 20% in just three years. Just like the constantly rising opioid overdose death numbers, the rising number of Marylanders who have personal knowledge of someone who is addicted indicate the spiraling rise of addiction and death in Maryland.

For the seventh straight year, deaths due to drug and alcohol intoxication rose. Last year, they rose by 9% to a record 2,282 deaths. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Maryland ranks 5th nationally for opioid overdose deaths.

The reason for the explosion of opioid deaths is fentanyl, which is mixed with heroin. Fentanyl, which has been flooding the state in the past few years, has been implicated in nearly 70% of the state's overdose deaths in 2017. Clay Stamp, Executive Director of the state's Opioid Operational Command Center, has said, "If it were not for fentanyl, we would be making greater headway" with a number of steps we have taken. Maryland fatalities caused by fentantyl rose 42% from 2016 to 2017, from 1,119 to 1,594 deaths.

Every year, Maryland has taken steps to fight the drug death epidemic. In 2017, due to our work fighting substance abuse, Senator Kathy Klausmeier and I were appointed Chairs of the Joint Committee on Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Disorders. In March 2017, Governor Hogan declared a state of emergency in response to the opioid epidemic. The State has appropriated a total of $50 million in additional funds to support Maryland's prevention, recovery and enforcement efforts. In addition, the state has expanded the number of Medicaid residential treatment beds, established a prescription drug monitoring program to help doctors track patients' opioid prescriptions, expanded access to naloxone (a drug that will reverse an opioid overdose), and brought drug education programs into the schools.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that Maryland was one of six states that will receive a grant to provide re-employment services to residents affected by opioid use.

During the recent 2018 General Assembly, the fight against the opioid crisis continued with the passage of legislation to authorize an emergency medical service or a police officer who treats or transports to a medical facility an individual experiencing an overdose to report the incident to the appropriate technology platform, including the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. Another bill approved by the Legislature requires a health care provider to advise a patient of the benefits and risks associated with a prescribed opioid. Still another measure receiving passage requires the Maryland Health Department to establish a tip line for a person to report a licensed prescriber suspected of overprescribing medication, such as pain killers.

Drug addicted deaths are taking the lives of the young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated. Drug addiction knows no geographic, social or age boundaries. It is a public health problem of epic proportion. The only certainty I know about drug addiction and overdose deaths is that this state will continue to work to combat it on every level, using every tool at its disposal. That, I can promise you.

Please do not hesitate to contact me on this or any other issue of concern to you. As always, I encourage and welcome your input.