At the March police community meeting, they had a guest speaker come in to update everyone on the heroin problem in Anne Arundel county in which he mentioned has surpassed an ‘epidemic’ and has become a ‘plague’. Listening to his presentation, it’s getting really scary out there and the police department and county are doing all that they can to deal with the issues. Below I am posting a picture of the sign outside the police station. If you are unaware, they keep the board updated with heroin overdoses and deaths. I go to the meetings every month and will continue to post an updated picture each month so everyone can see how this really can be described as a plague. It is only mid-March and the overdoses are up to 237 with deaths at 23.
This month Mr. Darrell Hanger discussed oxycodone then and now. He described the first uses of oxycodone was to make terminal patients more comfortable. Doctors then began prescribing the drug to relieve everyone’s pain and they began prescribing it a lot and often. There has always been an addiction component to oxycodone and everyday people began not being able to live without the drug. Those that became addicted began to panic and sought out a replacement drug when restrictions were placed on oxycodone prescriptions. In stepped heroin. It was cheap, easy and available.
There is not a face to heroin. It can be the lady down the street or your kids’ best friends’ father. It’s leaching into the schools and can even be the quiet boy standing at the bus stop or your daughter’s boyfriend. There is no one type of person. To make the situation scarier, heroin mixes called ‘scramble’ are beginning to show up as well and these are even more deadly. The public has heard about Fentanyl, but there is a new one that is even more dangerous and it is called Carfentanil. Carfentanil is an elephant tranquilizer and is extremely dangerous. We were told at the meeting that one officer had a reaction to the chemical after his hands came in contact with it and he had to be sent to the hospital.
What is the county doing? The county is doing an excellent job at informing the public about the dangers of heroin, signs to look for and, more importantly, how to get help. The police department and the health department are working tirelessly to wake up folks to the problem with programs like No Child Left Behind. I’ve been to one and I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone and bring your kids!! Police are carrying Narcan now and there is a training course for the public so that they too can carry Narcan. Narcan is Naloxone which neutralizes opioids in the system immediately. It is not a cure, but it can buy valuable time (about 20-30 minutes) until emergency help arrives. Many lives have been saved using Narcan.
Along with heroin, the speakers talked about gateway drugs. A gateway drug is a drug that is used and eventually stops producing the required ‘high’ and the user goes on to something stronger. Alcohol and marijuana are the most common gateway drugs. Alcohol usage among teens is very high as well as marijuana usage and kids are starting earlier. Sandra Smolnicky from the Department of Health reported that about 12% of teens were smoking cigarettes and 37% of them were smoking marijuana and she stressed that the marijuana today is NOT the marijuana of yesteryears. Today’s marijunana is stronger with about 3 times higher THC levels and is often laced with something else.
Finally, the police reported that the majority of auto ‘break-ins’ were due to heroin use. Last year 3,000 cars were broken into last year. Spare change was being taken as well as anything else left in the car of any value. Police are STRONGLY urging people to NOT leave things like purses, wallets or computers in their cars and in plain sight. Police are begging people to LOCK THEIR CAR DOORS! The majority of cars are not broken into, but merely opened. Police also mentioned that we are entering spring and items such as lawn mowers and leaf blowers are commonly stolen and to keep your sheds locked. Also, there are a lot of boat thefts where radios, fishing rods and depth finders are stolen out of boats. Keep in mind that a bag of heroin is approximately $10. Look in your car and you may see enough to feed a habit well for a couple days.
Next month, we were told that Jen Corbin will be at the police meeting. She runs the Mobile Crisis Unit and she is an amazing person to listen to. She is on the panel of Not My Child and is very passionate about what she does and it comes through clearly when she speaks to a group. Meetings are every 3rd Thursday of the month at the South County Police Department right there on Stepneys Lane. Please make a point to be there. Keep your eye out for updates. Also, put a note on your calendar and if you can catch a Not My Child program, then please take the kids and go see that. The county is asking for your help - if you can’t use the resources in your own world, then be a resource for others. Carry the knowledge and maybe you’ll be able to steer someone in need in the right direction.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors.
