Drug and alcohol addiction in Maryland is a serious problem with devastating impacts on families and communities--and related fatalities on the rise. The Hogan Administration's statewide focus on addressing heroin and opioid abuse includes a coordinated, statewide public education initiative to help students and parents identify and respond to signs of addiction and to access support services.
This toolkit is designed to share a wealth of resources and information to support and inform the work taking place in our schools to execute these recommendations– and to provide access to information that students, teachers, and parents can use.
Education must play a vital role in this important effort. The Maryland State Department of Education, working closely with the Office of Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford, and partners at the Departments of Health and Commerce, among others, has launched a multi-faceted prevention and awareness campaign to reach every public school, and virtually every student in middle and high school.
We must raise awareness of the heroin and opioid epidemic throughout Maryland schools -- educators, parents, and students.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drug overdose deaths and opioid-involved deaths continue to increase in the United States. More than six out of ten overdose deaths involve an opioid. The number of overdose deaths involving opioids (including prescription opioids and heroin) has quadrupled since 1999. From 2000 to 2015 more than half a million people died from drug overdoses.
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