Instead of arresting street level dealers, Maryland should focus on treating heroin addiction Recently The Capital reported on the arrest of 25 people in Annapolis for selling heroin. Our political leaders celebrated this as a significant victory in the drug war. Yet we have seen countless headlines about drug busts in the 40-plus years since Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs, and the drug trade continues unabated. Does anyone believe the recent arrests will accomplish anything, beyond saddling the arrestees with convictions that will haunt them the rest of their lives? As long as there is a demand for the drugs, the trade will continue. [continues 568 words]
Aspiring Growers Ask Balto. CO. Council to Change Law Entrepreneurs eager to get a foothold in the nascent medical marijuana business in Maryland asked Baltimore County Council members Tuesday to pass zoning laws that would allow them to operate. Travis Radebaugh, a member of the family that operates Towson-based Radebaugh Florist & Greenhouses, told council members his company is ready to start growing marijuana - if the council allows farming operations in rural zones. Council members are wrestling with details of where they should allow medical marijuana growing operations, processing facilities and dispensaries once the state approves licenses for the businesses. [continues 409 words]
It was with deep regret and sadness that I looked closely at the pictures of each of my 45 fellow Baltimore residents murdered in July ("45 murders in 31 days: Looking back at Baltimore's deadliest month," Aug. 29). All but two of them share one common trait: they are people of color. Where are "Black Lives Matter" or Al Sharpton now? The ostensible reason for a large number of these murders is the proliferation of drugs and their insidious effect on human behavior. But what is the core reason for this? [continues 104 words]
Your report "45 murders in 31 days: Looking back at Baltimore's deadliest month" (Aug. 29) may be the most important news article since Freddie Gray's death. It provides a perspective that no longer permits people who don't live in the poor neighborhoods most affected by the violence to discount the homicides there by simply chalking them up to "drug dealers killing drug dealers." While there may be some of that, for each and every loss of life someone nevertheless grieves. Thanks for publishing this important story. Jeanne Geiger Brown [end]
In a recent editorial The Sun chose to ignore the many positives of Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford's interim heroin task force report and instead spent most of its energy misinterpreting and then harping on his seven-word remark about funding: "It's probably never going to be enough" ("Rutherford pleads poverty," Aug. 26). Why is this shocking? The heroin crisis needs a holistic solution; money alone will not solve it. This is widely recognized as fact, and was made abundantly clear by numerous testimonials given during the task force's open meetings that were held across the state. [continues 151 words]
A24-year-old athlete from Columbia, a teenage girl from Glen Burnie who wanted to become a medical examiner and a 21-year-old brother of two from Pasadena. What do these three individuals have in common? Each died from a drug overdose. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that in 2013, nearly 44,000 Americans died from drug overdose, referring to the situation as an "epidemic" as it eclipsed the number of deaths from auto accidents for the fifth year in a row. [continues 602 words]
Putting city residents with minor criminal records to work on Baltimore's $1 billion school renovation project looks like a win-win situation Ask anyone who lives in Baltimore the two things the city needs most and you're likely to get the same answer: Better schools for its children and more jobs for its working-age adults. That's why a proposal to make sure as many local residents as possible get work from the $1 billion plan to rebuild the school system's aging infrastructure sounds like a winner all around. Not only will young people get the modern school facilities they deserve but thousands of the city's unemployed could finally nail down a good job paying decent wages. [continues 556 words]
Rutherford Says Size of Problem Outstrips Available Money Cautioning that there likely would never be enough money to fix Maryland's heroin problem, Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford said Tuesday that a state task force recommends an expansion of treatment and prevention efforts to begin addressing it. Among the recommendations, part of an interim report to the governor, are allocations such as $800,000 to a residential treatment facility in Kent County to increase its capacity to 40 beds, and $300,000 to Baltimore for a pilot program in which recovering addicts would reach out to and help current users. [continues 1054 words]
Attorney General Frosh's commendable effort to stamp out conscious bias in law enforcement is only the first step to ensuring justice Attorney General Brian E. Frosh is poised to take a commendable step today in the effort to restore trust between the police and minority communities by issuing a set of guidelines designed to stop officers from using race, ethnicity or other characteristics as a factor in routine law enforcement. But as an investigation of Baltimore police practices by The Sun's Catherine Rentz makes clear, it will be no easy thing to translate the principles Mr. Frosh is articulating into discernible change in neighborhoods like Freddie Gray's Sandtown-Winchester. AMY DAVIS/BALTIMORE SUN Attorney General Brian E. Frosh is seeking to sharply limit the influence of racial and other biases on police work. [continues 767 words]
I applaud Joseph Scalia's commentary ("Blame city violence on the drug war," Aug. 22). His statement that this is a war not on drugs but on people living in war zones in every American city is unfailingly accurate. His admonition that no progress, regardless of the dollars spent, will be achieved to alleviate the killings and spare these families and neighborhoods in free fall until a truce has been declared could not be more prophetic. One might expect law enforcement and its unions would be the first large contingent to call for that truce, given the impossible job they have been charged with all these years. George Frazier, Baltimore [end]
Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby recently lamented in an op-ed piece about the difficulty of prosecuting crime because witnesses refuse to come forward. Rep Elijah Cummings recently issued an emotional appeal for "blacks lives [to] matter to black people." The city police chief recently announced that 10 federal agents would embed within the department to stem the rising violence. Baltimore is not unique in its surging crime rate. Politicians, police officials and community leaders around the country get on TV and appear baffled by the "senseless" violence. [continues 631 words]
Applications for licenses to operate 15 medical cannabis growing facilities, 15 processing plants and 109 dispensaries in the state of Maryland will begin in the next few weeks. The citizens of Baltimore County, and residents throughout Maryland, are relying on their county council members and county commissioners to serve them well when it comes to the location of these medical cannabis facilities. While the General Assembly has only legalized medical marijuana, which is a decision I wholeheartedly support, local government cannot be so short sighted as to just focus on today and ignore tomorrow. The point in the implementation of Maryland's medical cannabis laws has arrived where council members and commissioners must exercise county government's long-standing authority on land use matters. As the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission executive director Hannah L. Byron confirmed at the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) Summer Conference, these businesses must comply with local zoning regulations. [continues 486 words]
Regarding your thoughtful editorial on the medical use of cannabis, medical marijuana is not something to be feared ("Medical marijuana debate," Aug. 14). Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that states with open medical marijuana access have a 25 percent lower opioid overdose death rate than marijuana prohibition states. The protective effect grows stronger with time. States with established access showed a 33 percent reduction in deaths. This research finding has huge implications for cities like Baltimore that are struggling with prescription narcotic and heroin overdose deaths. [continues 106 words]
County Officials Should Be Wary of Overly Restrictive Local Zoning Laws Governing Dispensaries Local officials meeting at the Maryland Association of Counties convention in Ocean City last week had plenty of questions during a session set aside to discuss the state's new rules governing medical marijuana. Among the most intensely debated issues: How to ensure the legalization of pot for medical use doesn't encourage abuses by patients and physicians, as it has in some other states, or create a public nuisance in areas where marijuana dispensaries are located. Those are all valid concerns expected to be addressed in the regulations the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission will issue next month. [continues 541 words]
Maryland Can Follow in the Footsteps of Other States That Have Increased Public Safety While Reducing Spending on Prisons The number of inmates in Maryland's prisons has dropped 10 percent since 2006, and crime has fallen at the same time. Yet the state corrections department has seen an inflation-adjusted budget increase of 35 percent during that period. Something is wrong here, and an unusual coalition of Maryland's leaders from both parties and all three branches of government is trying to find the solution. [continues 588 words]
Counties Concerned About Nuts and Bolts of Medical Marijuana OCEAN CITY - County officials from across Maryland packed an information session here Thursday, seeking guidance now that entrepreneurs are scouting locations to grow and sell marijuana for medical use. "If it's coming, I want to be as knowledgeable and prepared as I can be," said Michael Hewitt, a St. Mary's County commissioner who was among 200 people who attended the session at the Maryland Association of Counties summer convention. The General Assembly passed legislation this year and last to revise a 2013 law that had legalized the sale of medical marijuana in the state but was so restrictive that it attracted no proposals. Regulations have been drafted and, unless new snags emerge, people suffering from cancer, epilepsy and other ailments are expected to be able to purchase cannabis to relieve their symptoms by late 2016. [continues 933 words]
I was disappointed to read your front-page story about marijuana sales ("Maryland native dubbed 'marijuana mogul' in Colorado," Aug. 10). How sad it is that people want to make money off of the weaknesses of others. People with addiction problems and mental illnesses that cause them to use drugs should not be taken advantage of or encouraged. In this day and age when we are working hard to break nicotine addiction and cigarette smoking, alcohol addiction and drunkenness, we should not be encouraging another kind of drug addiction to flourish. Lisa Sneed, Baltimore [end]
The first time Brian Rogers took a bong hit at a party with his Havre de Grace High School friends, he said marijuana had no effect on him. Now Rogers co-owns a multimillion-dollar marijuana company in Colorado at the center of the CNNdocu-series "High Profits," and he's no longer ambivalent. "It's changed my life," the 34-year-old Harford County native said. While recreational marijuana is illegal in 46 states - including Maryland - Colorado has been at the forefront of the legalization movement. And Rogers has been at the forefront of capitalizing on it. [continues 1222 words]
Possibility of Economic Boost From Production Facilities Is Enticing in Conservative Rural Areas of MD. Washington County is a proudly conservative place. Voters here haven't backed a Democrat for president since 1964, and same-sex marriage lost by a landslide in a referendum three years ago. But when Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries pitched a proposal to put a medical-marijuana production plant here, the county's five county commissioners - Republicans all - passed a resolution unanimously supporting the plan. Residents of Hagerstown, the county seat, seem to be taking the news in stride. The consensus: yes to marijuana for relieving pain, no to recreational use. [continues 1258 words]
Hagerstown Residents Say Yes to Medical Marijuana HAGERSTOWN - Washington County is a proudly conservative place. Voters haven't backed a Democrat for president since 1964, and same-sex marriage lost by a landslide in a referendum three years ago. But when Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries pitched a proposal to put a medical marijuana production plant here, the county's five county commissioners - Republicans all - passed a resolution unanimously supporting the plan. Residents in Hagerstown, the county seat, seem to be taking the news in stride. The consensus: yes to marijuana for relieving pain, no to recreational use. [continues 1474 words]
The Baltimore Health Department's Plan to Expand Drug Treatment to Everyone Who Needs It Is the First Step Toward Reducing Overdose Deaths Statewide If you have a heart attack, the ER physician doesn't just give you an aspirin and send you home. If your kidneys fail, doctors don't throw up their hands and discharge you because they're short on dialysis machines. But if you're lucky enough to survive a heroin overdose, you might have to wait weeks to get an appointment at a drug treatment center, and even then you're as likely as not to be told there are no beds available. [continues 649 words]
Group Urges Multifaceted Approach to Help Reduce Overdoses and Deaths To stem the growing heroin addiction rates and overdose deaths, a Baltimore task force plans to unveil a more than $20 million proposal today that includes around-the-clock treatment options. The panel is expected to outline a multifaceted approach that also includes training for families in deploying a heroin overdose antidote, an informational website and an educational campaign. Some of the proposals are already being planned or underway. City officials, as well as state and federal leaders, have been sounding alarms about the surge in heroin and prescription drug deaths. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake formed the task force in the fall. She says the recommendations will serve as a "blueprint." [continues 801 words]
As fentanyl-related fatalities soar, Baltimore's strategy for reducing overdose deaths through harm reduction initiatives could be a model for the state Maryland is facing an epidemic of overdose deaths linked to drugs mixed with the painkiller fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 30 to 50 times more powerful than unadulterated heroin. Fentanyl-related deaths account for nearly a quarter of fatal drug overdoses statewide - up from just 4 percent two years ago - and now exceed the number of deaths linked to cocaine and alcohol. [continues 646 words]
Amid a statewide surge in overdoses, Baltimore health officials announced a campaign Monday to tell heroin users that the drug they buy on the street could contain the much more potent painkiller fentanyl. The synthetic opiod, which federal officials say is 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin, is blamed in the deaths of hundreds of drug users nationwide since 2013. Health, law enforcement and counselors began issuing warnings more than a year ago, but have not been able to stem overdoses. [continues 736 words]
Amid a statewide surge in overdoses, Baltimore health officials announced a campaign Monday to tell heroin users that the drug they buy on the street could contain the much more potent painkiller fentanyl. The synthetic opiod, which federal officials say is 30 to 50 times as powerful as heroin, is blamed in the deaths of hundreds of drug users nationwide since 2013. Health officials, law enforcement authorities and counselors began issuing warnings more than a year ago but have not been able to stem overdoses. [continues 523 words]
I feel compelled to respond to your recent editorial, "Medical pot: No wonder." Sadly, the conclusions drawn in the piece are largely based on information that is (1) only peripherally relevant and (2) woefully out of date. The editorial does a disservice to readers by implying the "79 studies involving more than 6,000 patients" cited in the piece represent directly applicable - and current - research on medical cannabis. The first thing your readers should know is those 79 studies were not focused on what many experts would consider "medical marijuana." The study cited had "an emphasis on 28 randomized clinical trials of cannabinoids" - that is, 28 separate trials on individual molecules including mostly those that have been synthetically derived as only single, pure compounds. Experts overwhelmingly agree that whole-plant-based medicines, those including many molecules made by the plant, are physiologically superior to single-molecule approaches, yet most of the data cited in your editorial was derived from inferior single-molecule studies. It's fair to say that many of the questions and concerns raised by the research you cited are directly attributable to the deficient nature of the studies themselves. [continues 176 words]
Harden Also Ordered to Perform Community Service A former Baltimore County police officer who pleaded guilty in a drug case will avoid jail time and instead face probation and community service. Joseph Stanley Harden, 32, was sentenced Monday to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service. He could have received seven years of incarceration after he pleaded guilty in April to attempted fourth-degree burglary and possession of oxycodone. In July 2014, Harden was accused of trying to kick in the door of a drug dealer in Dundalk to steal drugs. Harden announced that he was a police officer while trying to get into the dealer's home, and prosecutors said such actions endanger the credibility of other officers. [continues 427 words]
With the state publishing draft regulations for medical marijuana and an infrastructure for growing and distributing it coming into view, Marylanders who suffer from chronic pain or debilitating disease could gain access to the drug by the middle of next year. The rules developed by the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, which cover doctor registration, licensing, fees and other concerns, were published last week. The state is accepting public comment on the rules through July 27. "This is a big step in the right direction," said Del. Dan K. Morhaim, a physician who championed the legalization of medical marijuana in the General Assembly. "This should make the program operational, though there should be adjustments every year or so for the next few years as we learn from our experience." [continues 685 words]
Drugs don't cause violence, prohibition does. A well meaning reader recently addressed the problem of gang-related violence in the city ("Reducing the number addicts is the key to reducing violence," June 4). The author suggested that the ongoing warfare causing such havoc is primarily due to the demand for addictive drugs. Not so: The violence is not due to the demand for these substances, it is due to the prohibition of these substances. Prohibition has never worked.Essentially all it does is create demand.However there's been plenty of violence with the distribution or use of tobacco.This was created by implementing the useless policies contained in the WHO's Convention on Tobacco Control.The high tobacco taxes cause... [continues 402 words]
Decision Invalidating Plea May Save Him From Serving a 20-Year Prison Term A 31-year-old man who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Baltimore after he pleaded guilty to possessing 5.9 grams of marijuana won an appeal Wednesday invalidating the plea - raising the possibility that he will be released. Ronald Hammond took the plea in the 2012 case after Baltimore District Judge Askew Gatewood told prosecutors that "5.9 grams won't roll you a decent joint" and suggested Hammond accept the plea and pay a fine. [continues 395 words]
The most encouraging words spoken at the recent Baltimore Summit on Maryland's heroin problem were made by the person charged with leading the state's pushback on this evil drug and the terrible consequences it bestows on the community, the family and the taxpayer. Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford correctly defined the most overlooked problem in the state's decades-long war with substance abuse. He said, "I am beginning to learn that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem." [continues 580 words]
Like any other business, the drug trade in Baltimore is based on supply and demand ("Baltimore's deadly May," June1). Presently, the demand is so great that at least three major gangs are fighting a violent turf war to control the distribution and sale of drugs. That war that is the direct cause of the marked increase in lethal violence in Baltimore over the last three months. The key to reducing the violence is to reduce the number of addicts. Using drugs is a choice. Not using drugs is also a choice. Only when folks make the healthy choice will the violence that plagues this city be reduced in a meaningful way. Marc Raim, Baltimore [end]
As rightly concerned and upset as we are about the fatal injuries Freddie Gray suffered in police custody, we ought to be just as concerned about the body count that existed prior to his death and has been on the rise ever since (there have been roughly three dozen homicides in Baltimore since Gray died, not counting the many wounded). We have come to accept daily community violence as background noise. What's going on, and what can be done? Sadly, every city and region has well-established lines of distribution of illegal drugs and narcotics. Addicts need their drugs once or several times a day, and there's a global network established to satisfy that craving. It starts overseas, where opium and cocaine are processed and then sent to virtually every community and street corner in the U.S. The billions of dollars spent to buy drugs are funneled back to the drug cartels via financial mechanisms that would rival a Wall Street investment bank. [continues 649 words]
During the Baltimore riots, I was traveling in Europe. Usually when people from other countries and states ask where I'm from, I get a blank stare and then I reply that it's near Washington, D.C. No explanation was required this time - Baltimore was worldwide front page news ("Business damage from Baltimore riot estimated at $9M," May 13). However, the reports made it sound like we were living in a police state and black people were being gunned down in the streets by out-of-control policemen and military men shooting from large armored vehicles. [continues 175 words]
BALTIMORE - Some do it because there are warrants for their arrest. Others because they possess drugs, are seeking a thrill, or are just plain scared. Sometimes people do it even when they have done nothing wrong. Young men in the heavily policed neighborhood where 25-year-old Freddie Gray was chased by the police - and suffered fatal injuries in custody - say running from officers is a way of life with its own playbook, passed down on the streets in much the way a young girl learns double dutch by watching others on the block. [continues 1293 words]
When Ronald Hammond appeared in a Baltimore courtroom on a charge of possessing 5.9 grams of marijuana, the judge scoffed at the case. District Judge Askew Gatewood told the prosecutor that "5.9 grams won't roll you a decent joint," according to a transcript of the 2012 case. "Why would I want to spend taxpayers' money putting his little raggedy butt in jail - feeding him, clothing him, cable TV, Internet, prayer, medical expense, clothing - on $5 worth of weed?" [continues 1343 words]
Freddie Gray's Death Has Sparked Discussions of Many Injustices, but at Its Heart Is the Breakdown in Relations Between Police and the Community The death of Freddie Gray and the riots that followed have brought Baltimore's problems to the forefront of national, even international, attention. The drug addiction, poverty, failing schools, health disparities, deteriorating housing, broken families and unemployment that plague neighborhoods like the one where Gray lived and was arrested in have been on full display, and they have become a part of the larger discussion about what it would mean to bring about justice in the wake of his death. [continues 1340 words]
[David Simon: "If I had to guess and put a name on it, I'd say that at some point, the drug war was as much a function of class and social control as it was of racism. I think the two agendas are inextricably linked, and where one picks up and the other ends is hard to say."] BALTIMORE -- The mayor is black. The council is almost two-thirds black. The school superintendent is black. The police chief is black, and a majority of his officers are black. [continues 1508 words]
Your editorial "Why Freddie Gray ran" (April 25) did an exceptional job of capturing the problem facing not only Sandtown-Winchester but much of black America. I lived in Sandtown-Winchester for 35 years and taught in the Baltimore City Public Schools for 40 years. My experiences tell me that changing the social conditions in poor and minority communities, not policing, is the answer to our crime problem. If we end the war on drugs and work to address the problems that it caused we can make our state and nation better, safer places for us all. [continues 117 words]
Complaint Says They Stole Hundreds of Thousands in Probe of Drug Website Attorneys for the former federal agents said they were innocent but declined further comment. Two former federal agents in Baltimore who led an undercover hunt for the head of an online drug marketplace called Silk Road have been charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars during the investigation. The agents, Carl M. Force, 46, a 15-year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Administration who resigned last year, and Shaun W. Bridges, 32, a special agent with the Secret Service who resigned this month, made their first appearances in court Monday after the unsealing of the criminal complaint in California. [continues 1257 words]
When it comes to prescription drug abuse in Frederick County, the issue often falls second to the county's heroin epidemic despite its persistent prevalence, according to officials. The use and abuse of nonprescribed drugs, however, has garnered recent attention after several teens overdosed Wednesday on Ambien and Adderall at Oakdale High School. A 15-year-old student provided the prescription pills to several schoolmates, sending four to the hospital as they experienced dizziness, shortness of breath, vomiting and lack of coordination. The fifth was released into the care of a parent, according to the Frederick County Sheriff's Office. [continues 1225 words]
Kudos to reporter Jean Marbella for excellent writing that gave a human face to the scourge of heroin addiction in Baltimore ("Baltimore County family struggles with impact of heroin's grip," March 21). I applaud The Sun for giving prime space to a timely feature story that could influence Marylanders to become more conscious of the depth of this problem and more resolved to mitigate it. For several weeks, we have read current facts and statistics about heroin abuse. Your feature story has the potential to inspire concerted action from state and city leaders, corrections officials, business executives and the leaders of religious, educational, social welfare and neighborhood leaders across the region. We need a "full-court press" on this problem. [continues 105 words]
Drug and alcohol addiction is a sad but increasingly commonplace story ("Baltimore County family struggles with impact of heroin's grip," March 21). For a long time I believed addiction was simply a problem of a lack of willpower on the user's part. I thought it resulted from poor judgment and personal character flaws. But as I became aware of the nefarious nature of addiction, I realized it is not a moral issue but truly an illness. I am praying for the family mentioned in your article, and for all others who are struggling with addiction. Tom Holmes, Lutherville [end]
In August 2012, law enforcement stopped Mandrel Stuart, the owner of a small barbecue restaurant in Virginia, for a minor traffic violation. During the routine traffic stop, $17,550 that Stuart had earned from his restaurant and intended to use for supplies and equipment was seized. Stuart was never charged with a crime and there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing. He eventually got his money back, but since he lacked the cash to pay for overhead, he lost his business. [continues 600 words]
From gay marriage to marijuana decriminalization, Maryland has been a national leader on social issues in the new century. This year, state legislators and new governor Larry Hogan can further burnish the state's reputation by setting a national example on heroin intervention and death-with-dignity legislation. Let's start with Governor Hogan's noble call to mitigate heroin addiction and overdose deaths in Maryland. The governor brings personal experience to the issue: He lost a cousin to a heroin overdose. [continues 634 words]
Leonhart Tells Senators of Rising Number of Overdose Deaths, Baltimore Task Force The chief of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration put a spotlight on Maryland's heroin problems during a congressional hearing Thursday. DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart spoke of the state's rising number of overdose deaths in testimony before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. She said a DEA task force focusing on heroin in Baltimore is a model for other communities. "Maryland is the perfect example when we're talking about what it's going to take for our country to actually stem the flow of the rising heroin problem," Leonhart said. [continues 314 words]
Regarding your recent report on heroin overdoses, I applaud Gov. Larry Hogan's efforts to reduce such deaths ("Hogan wades into Maryland's long battle against heroin," Feb. 28). As a treatment professional, we are facing a much more complex problem than drug use. Addiction is a powerful thing, and the governor's new approach is anything but more of the same. Treatment and prevention lie at the heart of the work ahead. The advocacy community and families impacted by the opioid epidemic approached Mr. Hogan several months ago to share their concerns regarding the devastating impact addiction is having on communities. However, the early coverage of Mr. Hogan's plan harked back to his election campaign and politicized the issue. [continues 164 words]
If Americans and political leaders honestly care to lower heroin addiction rates ("War on heroin starts with teens," Feb. 27 and "Hogan creates two panels for fight against heroin," Feb. 25), they should end cannabis (marijuana) prohibition. An important reason to end cannabis prohibition that doesn't get mentioned is because it increases hard drug addiction rates by putting citizens who choose to use the relatively safe God-given plant into contact with people who often also sell hard drugs. Furthermore, government claims heroin is no worse than cannabis - and that methamphetamine and cocaine are less harmful drugs - by insisting marijuana is a Schedule I substance alongside heroin, while methamphetamine and cocaine are only Schedule II substances. [continues 51 words]
Governor Creates Panels to Focus More on Prevention and Treatment of Addiction "We're not just reacting to the sudden surge of overdoses and overdoses deaths. We're taking a holistic approach." With the creation of two panels devoted to combating heroin use, Gov. Larry Hogan has waded into a worsening crisis - one that has defied solutions for decades. It once looked as if Maryland had brought some measure of control to its long-standing battle against the drug, driving down fatal overdose rates for years. In Baltimore, for example, overdose deaths plunged from more than 300 in 1999 to around 100 in 2010. [continues 1246 words]
Gov. Larry Hogan's focus on addressing the heroin epidemic ("Hogan creates two panels for fight against heroin," Feb. 25) is a testimony that the scourge of heroin and other substance addictions has garnered bipartisan concern. The next public policy strategy should translate this realization in to greater access to treatment, more targeted public awareness campaigns and increased cooperation between law enforcement, health care and mental health care providers and community leaders. The efforts by Governor Hogan and others need to focus on teens and young adults. The Maryland Addiction Recovery Center's December, 2014 analysis shows that heroin is now one of the top five drugs abused by teens. [continues 108 words]
Inside Maryland
