Anne Arundel Co. Fighting Opioid Crisis With Program At Police, Fire Stations
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Opioid addicts in Anne Arundel County can find help in police and fire stations.
This is the one-year anniversary of the county Safe Stations Program, part of the response to the opioid state of emergency imposed by Gov. Larry Hogan.
The Safe Stations Program is a round-the-clock service at all Anne Arundel County fire and police stations where addicts can get the help they need.
"Basically, I was in and out of jails and prison my whole adult life," a recovering addict who used the service said. "Last time I got out of jail, I was homeless and had nowhere to go and started using again. They saved my life."
Hogan spoke at the Brooklyn Park Volunteer Fire Company.
"We're still under a state of emergency where all of our state agencies are working just like we would in a crisis from a hurricane or some other natural disaster because this one is much bigger. It's more of a crisis, it's killing more people," Hogan said.
Fifty-six people in Anne Arundel County have died of overdoses so far this year. The year-to-date total of overdoses is 332.
Safe Stations is a model program, and the governor says there's money to help open more in other jurisdictions.
"The folks here are out talking to a number of other counties about how it works," Hogan said, referring to the state's opioid operational command center. "This is an all-hands-on-deck emergency."
The state has allocated $600 million to fighting the opioid crisis.
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