Opioid Epidemic Stronger, More Destructive, Taking Toll On Md. Families
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Only a few months into the new year, and already opioid addiction has taken its toll on Maryland families.
Harford County Sheriff says he's seeing more and more people having drug overdoses, and he says the drugs are getting stronger and deadlier.
An inconsolable pain, that's tormenting families across Maryland.
"Nothing ever could be the same again. Our family's not whole anymore," says one mother.
The opioid epidemic is growing stronger and more destructive.
"It didn't seem like anything was wrong. My mom got the call," says Jade from Fallston.
Last year, nearly 1200 people died from drug overdoses statewide, and nearly half of those were in Baltimore City.
Governor Larry Hogan declared the crisis a "State of Emergency."
"Working together to finally begin to turn the tide in this difficult fight," he says.
In Harford County, Sheriff Jeff Gahler tells WJZ, heroin overdoses are getting deadlier and more frequent.
"The loss of life stands at 22 right now, just for this early part of the year," says Sheriff Gahler.
Gahler says Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is growing in popularity.
The drug can be up to 100 times deadlier than heroin.
"When you're taking something that's manufactured, that can be a hundred times worse, obviously it's resulting in a lot more deaths, here in Harford county and across our country," he says.
Some Maryland hospitals are using counselors who battled addictions themselves to counsel patients, in an attempt to try and reverse the deadly trend to spare families from pain.
"It's happening to you family somewhere. It happened to my family. It wasn't supposed to happen in my family and it did."
The Harford County Sheriff tells WJZ that many patients have no idea what type of drug combination of drugs they're ingesting.
Nearly 90 people in Harford County have had overdoes this year alone, and 22 of them have died.
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