09-15-2024 GAR - Flipbook - Page 3
A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Sunday, September 15, 2024
3
With Overdose Numbers on the Rise,
Maryland Looks for Solutions
Government and nonprofits team up to help those in need
By Gregory J. Alexander, Contributing Writer
T
he numbers can be disheartening. According to
the Maryland Department
of Health’s new dashboard
(health.maryland.gov/dataoffice/Pages/mdh-dashboards.aspx), there were
2,030 overdoses in Maryland from
July 2023 to June 2024 – and 80%
of those involve fentanyl, a powerful
synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and more than 80
times stronger than morphine. Cheap
to produce and undetectable by sight,
taste or smell, fentanyl is often mixed
with other drugs like cocaine, heroin and prescription pills, creating an
even greater likelihood of death.
Despite the alarming figure, Nishant
Shah, M.D., substance use disorder
consultant in the behavioral health
administration at the Maryland Department of Health, is not taking
this fight lying down. “The overdose
numbers are devastating as too many
individuals are struggling and don’t
know how to access care. We need to
get these numbers down, and we have
redoubled our efforts to combat this
issue,” Shah says.
Shah says that heroin has virtually
disappeared from the drug supply in
Maryland, and has been replaced with
fentanyl and Xylazine, which is often
found in combination with fentanyl.
Both are considered even more dangerous than heroin.
Daniel Stoltzfus, CEO of Helping
Up Mission (HUM, helpingupmis-
sion.org), which impacts the lives
of those experiencing homelessness,
poverty and addiction in Baltimore
by providing individual care that addresses their physical, psychological,
social and spiritual needs, says that
his center is also trying to get the
word out on the dangers of fentanyl
and opioids.
“It’s certainly a message that we’re
constantly sharing with our community to help make people aware that
there’s a risk, whether it’s laced in
some other drug or they’re taking fentanyl directly. We also stress that the
risk of relapse with fentanyl is also
greater than many other substances,”
Stoltzfus says.
“We are also educating college
students on campuses throughout
the state who may believe that when
they acquire Xanax, oxycodone or
ADHD-related pills from a friend or
anywhere outside of the health care
system that it’s safe, but instead those
pills may also be laced with fentanyl,”
adds Shah.
Shah points out that the website
stopoverdose.maryland.gov has a tremendous amount of information and
resources on the prevention of overdoses, including information on Naloxone, a life-saving medication that
can quickly restore the breathing of a
person experiencing an opioid overdose. The site has information on how
to get Naloxone and videos on how to
administer Naloxone to someone.
“We want to partner with priOverdose on the Rise
continued on next page.
