County, State Experience 'Heroin Epidemic'

There are a suspected 14,000 heroin users every day in Montgomery County, says State Attorney John McCarthy, and the upsurge in use of the illicit and highly addictive drug has led to more deaths from overdose than homicides.

Gov. Larry Hogan has termed the issue a “heroin epidemic.” As the Maryland General Assembly went into session, Hogan said he plans to allocate resources statewide for battling the issue, Montgomery Community Media reports.

“There is a huge heroin problem statewide,” Montgomery County Council member Tom Hucker told Montgomery County Media in December. “I’m glad to hear the governor say that he wants to declare a heroin emergency. We have more heroin deaths than we have homicides in the county, and I believe that’s the case statewide. This is a real problem that is totally avoidable, and we need to be addressing it.”

Police Capt. Darren Francke tells the news outlet the county has experienced an “uptick” of suspected heroin overdoses within the past two-and-a-half months.

“We hope to see more legislation in the state of Maryland that allows us to go after these dealers, these suppliers, these folks that are there. And unfortunately, these people make very poor choices because of this addiction, and it leads to their death,” Francke said.

Francke recounted a recent case where two heroin users had both met with their dealer and used the purchased heroin at the same time. The two individuals essentially both fell down dead together, Francke said.

McCarthy told Montgomery Community Media his biggest interest this year is “exploding heroin problem in Maryland and in Montgomery County in particular.”

There were five suspected heroin overdose deaths in Montgomery County alone in the first week of December, according to the interview.

“This is a growing problem. It’s exploding all over Maryland,” McCarthy said. “This is an epidemic.

In 2014, Anne Arundel County, police officers were trained to administer Narcan, a drug that quickly reverses the effects of a heroin overdose, after seeing a rise in heroin overdoses, Patch previously reported. In many cases, officers are the first responders on the scene of an overdose, which often disrupts normal breathing or causes the user to stop breathing.

McCarthy says he hopes to see steps taken to expand treatment centers for those who are addicted to heroin, along with legislation in Maryland to make distributors of heroin that result in death subject to life in prison.

“If you’re going to sell a product that’s going to kill the people on the streets of Montgomery County, you should forfeit your right to live in the community,” McCarthy said. “We should do whatever we can to discourage people from selling heroin on the streets of Montgomery County. It’s cheap.”

Annapolis police officer Justin Goods saved a man from suspected heroin overdose ten minutes after he had finished training on how to administer Narcan in June 2014.

Clinical Coordinator Debra Lezama of the Avery Road Treatment Center in Rockville tells Montgomery Community Media the addiction to heroin is a chronic disease, but there are people in the center who are successfully being treated.

“This doesn’t have to kill you,” Lezama said.

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