Anne Arundel awarded $1.2M grant to combat opioid addiction By: Phil Davis, Contact Reporter Maryland has awarded Anne Arundel County $1.2 million for expanding opioid addiction programs including halfway houses for recovering addicts. The bulk of the funds, $972,937, will go toward crisis drug treatment services, said Chris Garrett, a Maryland Department of Health spokesman. The rest will fund expanding halfway houses. [ click… Read More
Study Shows Opioid-Related Emergency Department Visits Highest In Maryland A new nationwide survey on hospital ER visits and inpatient care shows Maryland ranks No. 1 in opioid-related hospital stays. As communities handle a growing drug crisis, hospitals in Maryland and other places are treating more and more patients with opioid-related problems. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released a study Tuesday showing 1.27… Read More
Guest Editorial from Boston Globe Questions ‘Addiction as Disease’ Theory In June, 2017, the Boston Globe ran a guest editorial piece written by Dr. Sally Satel, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (who also works part time in a methadone clinic in Washington DC) and Scott O. Lilienfeld, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology at Emory University. The authors make a case… Read More
Maryland’s heroin fight turns to educating students from elementary school to college In the ongoing battle to stem the heroin and opiate epidemic in Maryland, the newest focus is a state law that mandates teaching students in elementary schools through college about the dangers of the drugs. Public schools are tweaking drug-education lessons and colleges are preparing sessions for incoming students to comply with the Start Talking Maryland… Read More
In just one year, nearly 1.3 million Americans needed hospital care for opioid-related issues The coast-to-coast opioid epidemic is swamping hospitals, with government data published Tuesday showing 1.27 million emergency room visits or inpatient stays for opioid-related issues in a single year. The 2014 numbers, the latest available for every state and the District of Columbia, reflect a 64 percent increase for inpatient care and a 99 percent jump for… Read More