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Sunday, July 09, 2017

Hogan-Rutherford Administration Announces Over $22 Million to Fight Heroin and Opioid Epidemic

80% of Funding for Local Jurisdictions and Service Providers, Includes $2 Million for 24 Hour Crisis Center in Baltimore City

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Maryland’s Opioid Operational Command Center, Department of Health, and the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention today announced more than $22 million to fight the heroin and opioid epidemic. Eighty percent will go to Maryland’s 24 local jurisdictions and service providers to fund prevention, enforcement, and treatment efforts throughout the state. 
“Finding real solutions to the heroin and opioid crisis that is ravaging our communities is a top priority of our administration and a cause that myself and Lt. Governor Rutherford have been personally committed to since before we took office,” said Governor Hogan. “This new funding will make real differences in people’s lives as we work together to turn the tide in this deadly fight.”
The funding for Fiscal Year 2018 includes the first $10 million of Governor Larry Hogan’s $50 million commitment to address the crisis announced in March 2017, the first $10 million from the federal 21st Century Cures Act, and $2.1 million from the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention. 
"With this funding plan, Maryland reaffirms Governor Hogan's commitment to helping equip our local communities as we work together to battle this epidemic throughout the state," said Maryland Department of Health Secretary Dennis Schrader. "For example, $2 million of the Cures Act funding is being committed to establish a 24-hour crisis center in Baltimore City."
“Here in Maryland, we continue to face a crisis situation with the number of overdoses rising every day. I am confident that with these resources we are announcing today, we have a balanced approach to fighting this epidemic – and we are giving the majority of our resources to the local level where we have the greatest opportunity to save lives,” said Clay Stamp, executive director of the Opioid Operational Command Center. “It is important to note our successes will continue to be driven by the significant support and cooperation of our federal and state agencies and local coordinated teams, including key advocacy groups, supporting our important work to combat the opioid crisis.” 
When Governor Hogan declared a State of Emergency in March, he also announced a supplemental budget of $50 million in new funding over a five-year period. Twelve state agencies partnering with the Opioid Operational Command Center worked with the command center to develop a work plan and goals, which have shaped how funds will be allocated. The work plan and funding allocations also incorporated feedback from local Opioid Intervention Teams, which coordinate with the community and are led by the jurisdiction’s emergency manager and health officer.  
The Maryland Department of Health was awarded a $20 million grant under the 21st Century Cures Act from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), to be used for the prevention and treatment of opioid abuse over two years. 
“The funds from the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention will be used to continue the collaboration and coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement,” said Glenn Fueston, executive director of the office. “By promoting such collaboration, we feel that we will be in a better position to disrupt the flow of drugs coming into our region.” 
As Maryland’s opioid crisis has evolved, so has the state’s response to it, which includes addressing the epidemic from every possible angle. Education and prevention go hand-in-hand with treatment and enforcement, and all are essential components of the state’s efforts to turn the tide in this heroin and opioid crisis. Efforts that will receive enhanced funding in FY 2018 include: 
Prevention
  • $4 million total distributed to local Opioid Intervention Teams (as noted in table below) for each jurisdiction to determine how best to fight the heroin and opioid epidemic, which may expand on current prevention, enforcement, and treatment efforts
  • $1.4 million for a public awareness campaign to reduce stigma, increase patient-physician communication, and educate Maryland’s school children on the dangers posed by opioids, as well as additional support for local jurisdictions’ prevention efforts
  • $700,000 to train community teams on overdose response and linking to treatment
  • $200,000 to pilot a program that creates school-based teams for early identification of the problems related to substance use disorders
  • $200,000 to distribute opioid information to health care facilities and providers that offer treatment for opioid use disorder 
Enforcement
  • $1.25 million to add to existing efforts to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations
  • $850,000 to continue heroin coordinator program, which helps to make the link between law enforcement and treatment
  • $450,000 to increase the Department of Health’s regulatory oversight of controlled dangerous substances 
Treatment
  • $3.2 million to expand treatment beds statewide, as well as a tracking system – the Maryland Healthcare Commission will aid in expediting the certificate of need application process for treatment beds
  • $2.7 million to improve access to naloxone statewide
  • $2 million to establish a 24-hour crisis center in Baltimore City
  • $1.6 million to expand use of peer recovery support specialists
  • $1 million to expand Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) to hospitals and parole, probation, and correctional facilities
  • $780,000 to increase access to medications that support recovery from substance use disorders
  • $183,000 to support the expansion of existing law enforcement assisted diversion programs
  • $143,000 to improve the statewide crisis hotline 
Recognizing the immediate need for naloxone in Baltimore City, $750,000 will be provided to buy 10,000 units (20,000 doses) ofthe lifesaving drug that can reverse an opioid overdose. The city will receive $830,429 in individual jurisdictional funding, $2 million to establish the crisis center requested by city leadership, as well as funding for localized treatment and enforcement initiatives. With the opportunity to apply for grants, Baltimore is eligible for approximately $6 million in funding. The 2016 annual report  released by the Maryland Department of Health found that of the 2,089 overdose deaths in Maryland last year, 694 occurred in Baltimore City. 
The funding announcement also coincides with the July 1, 2017 roll-out of Maryland Medicaid programs that make substance use disorder treatment options more accessible for Marylanders. Chief among them is the ability of residential treatment centers of a certain size to be able to receive Medicaid reimbursement for treatment – erasing a federal prohibition that had served as an impediment to treatment for many people. 
Many of these efforts are possible due to the passage of recent legislation that provided the state with additional tools to respond to the heroin and opioid crisis, such as the Heroin and Opioid Prevention Effort (HOPE) and Treatment Act of 2017 (HB 1329/SB 967), a bipartisan omnibus bill that contains provisions to improve patient education, increase treatment services, and includes the administration’s Overdose Prevention Act, which enables all citizens to access life-saving naloxone. The HOPE Act builds on many of the 33 recommendations of the administration’s Heroin and Opioid Emergency Task Force, and includes improvements to the statewide crisis hotline for support in making diagnoses and referrals, the assessment of drug court programs to determine how to increase programs in a manner sufficient to meet each county’s need, and the establishment of the 24-hour crisis center. 
Governor Hogan's State of Emergency declaration activated the governor’s emergency management authority and enables increased and more rapid coordination between the state and local jurisdictions. The Opioid Operational Command Center, established by Governor Hogan in January through an Executive Order, facilitates collaboration between state and local public health, human services, education, and public safety entities to combat the heroin and opioid crisis and its effects on Maryland communities. 
Before It’s Too Late is the state’s effort to bring awareness to this epidemic—and to mobilize resources for effective prevention, treatment, and recovery. Marylanders grappling with a substance use disorder can find help at BeforeItsTooLateMD.org and 1-800-422-0009, the state crisis hotline. 
FY 2018 Funding by Jurisdiction 
Local Opioid Intervention Teams will receive direct funding as noted below for each jurisdiction to determine how best to use to fight the heroin and opioid epidemic. This amount does not include other grants and additional funding distribution.
Allegany County
$115,956.49
Anne Arundel County
$286,858.61
Baltimore City
$830,428.66
Baltimore County
$469,737.68
Calvert County
$101,676.26
Caroline County
$78,182.98
Carroll County
$138,067.82
Cecil County
$123,326.94
Charles County
$108,125.40
Dorchester County
$74,037.11
Frederick County
$162,021.75
Garrett County
$71,273.19
Harford County
$170,313.50
Howard County
$124,708.89
Kent County
$73,115.80
Montgomery County
$191,964.17
Prince George's County
$189,660.91
Queen Anne's County
$79,564.94
Saint Mary's County
$74,958.41
Somerset County
$90,620.60
Talbot County
$79,564.94
Washington County
$158,797.18
Wicomico County
$115,956.49
Worcester County
$91,081.25
Total
$4,000,0000
  

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is a wast of my tax dollars im sorry but if they stick a needle in their arm to get high and they od to bad why should i save them they knew what they were doing in the first place i don't feel sorry for any of them and yes before you say what if it was your kid. like i said to bad he or she knew what they were doing before they did it

Anonymous said...

These people are committing crimes and should be locked up. This would provide the best protection for our children and communities.

Anonymous said...

Why are the kingpins allowed to continue to sell drugs? Why are the police focusing on low level dealers/users? Why don't our state officials do anything about the EASY AVAILABILITY of heroin? Programs like this are needed but the access to heroin must be stopped.

Anonymous said...

They should take the 22mil and buy heroine and give it away free and we would over night have a lot fewer drugees.

Anonymous said...

I say let the ones who want the poison set them up in a sectioned off area to habitat feed them all the drugs they want the problem will tame care of itself pretty quickly

Anonymous said...

more wasted money for government agencies that will help to solve nothing. they aren't in the rehab business. there is better use for this money.

Anonymous said...

what you all fail to realize is how much money there is to be made off the drug epidemic, and it aint the kingpins makin it. It's the lawyers, kops, judges, prisons, guards, parole and probation officers, and now even big pharma are getting in on the act!
War on drugs? right!
let the f'ers od! I would rather my taxc dollars be spent on more useful things!

Anonymous said...

9:10 bingo!

Anonymous said...

22 million why not a billion lets go all the way so politicians' pet projects can be funded and more blue ribbon panels can be funded with high salaries.

Anonymous said...

9:10 has it right. There's too much money to be made to take it off the streets. If you don't believe that, just go sit in drug court for a day. It's the biggest cash cow you've ever seen!

Concerned Retiree said...

Doctors prescribe the Opioid. Then make them give free rehab. They never want to solve a medical problem since they will lose money. They should be finding the problem and solve the problem instead of prescribing maintenance drugs. I also include the AMA, FDA, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies. They are in cahoots with the Government by using toxic / controlling drugs against us. Quit punishing me, by taxing me more,for others irresponsible mistakes and the medical profession getting richer.

Anonymous said...

The soldiers are guarding the poppy fields.

Anonymous said...

The government didn't invest in treatment programs for the crack cocaine epidemic. They just put the crack heads in jail. Heroin addicts are nasty and full of STD's. Why waste good hard earning tax payer money on these folks. Put them in jail. Turn Jails into Addiction Centers. Heroin Addicts will eventually end up in those places anyway. Family and friends won't deal with this problem. Now, they just want someone else to foot the bill. But, this country did NOTHING for the folks who suffered from crack cocaine. There's no different between what happen then verse what is happening now. Folks just need to quit there jobs and stop paying taxes for other folks to get fat as a pig off your hard earning slave labor.

Anonymous said...

2:57
You probably have no idea how many people are using heroin judging from your comment.
An epidemic means it is a critical problem, not just isolated to a few in the society.
There are families being ripped apart by this drug. Look at other countries in the past: china, Indonesia, so on.
Heroin is a terrible scourge on society and will completely destroy a country if we don't do something about it.
I wish all the troops would deal with the heroin at the source: afghanistan. That is where it is coming from.

Anonymous said...

3:57 pm.
Oh, I do know. Had to tolerate them in corrections. Now, I see them in hospital. But, you have to understand, only 25% of government money is going to be used to help these addicts. And the other 75% of government money is going in the pockets to create programs we all know for a fact will not help them. This is how rich people are getting richer. Off the backs of the poor, elders, addicts an the almost dead middle class. Put the heroin addicts in jail.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
3:57 pm.
Oh, I do know. Had to tolerate them in corrections. Now, I see them in hospital. But, you have to understand, only 25% of government money is going to be used to help these addicts. And the other 75% of government money is going in the pockets to create programs we all know for a fact will not help them. This is how rich people are getting richer. Off the backs of the poor, elders, addicts an the almost dead middle class. Put the heroin addicts in jail.

July 8, 2017 at 10:22 PM

Guards, like cops, are not the brightest bulbs in the pack. You had to tolerate someone in jail? lol. Gee, what did you expect to see and do in a jail? People sitting around gossiping and talking about their neighbors? Oh wait, that's what YOU do. Sorry.