Maryland’s opioid crisis is not over, even in the midst of a new health crisis. But the state still has services available for those seeking help for addiction.
While both national and DC area health departments are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid crisis that has devastated communities in the US is not gone.
Brendan Saloner, associate professor in the Department of Health, Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said preliminary data show that fatal drug use reached its record high in 2019, with 72,000 reported.
“Going into COVID, we were in an incredibly bad situation, and there’s enough reason to think that COVID makes it worse,” Saloner said.
He explained the grim outburst in this way: “Social isolation, job loss, a feeling of anxiety and depression that many people feel – all of these things are triggers,” he said.
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Dr. Aliya Jones, Deputy Secretary of the Maryland Department’s Managing Health Administration, agreed.
COVID-19 has increased all the factors that can drive overdoses, Jones said, and research has shown that people with substance abuse problems will use at higher rates under those circumstances.
One piece of data provides a snapshot of what the trend looks like, Jones said. In May 2019, there were 191 deaths from opioid overdose. In May 2020, there were 217. And they noted that an uptick in overdoses apparently went back to December.
In the DC area, Arlington County in Virginia reported a spike in fatal opioid-related overdoses.
In August, Arlington County police said they were investigating five deaths that may be drug-related, and they suspect the deaths were linked to heroin-prescribing painkillers mixed with fentanyl, according to a news release.
In 2019, there were six reported fatal opioid overdoses in Arlington County. As of August 11 this year, the number of fatal overdoses in the province is currently reported at 15.
Jones said another result of COVID-19 is that, due to social isolation, people who abuse opioids end up taking them alone, reducing the chance that someone can relive them with naloxone, a cover dose for overdose.
And there’s another problem, according to Jones: “There has been a declining use of substance use services,” such as methadone maintenance programs.
There has also been a decline in the number of people with substance abuse problems shown in hospital wards.
Saloner said it is a major concern, “because we treat a lot of people who are in the middle of an overdose or who are just having conditions related to their substance abuse in hospitals.”
“I actually worry a lot about that problem,” he added.
One thing Jones said health officials are trying to figure out is why the number of overdoses in Baltimore City has dropped but increased in Prince George’s County, “which is not a province that typically has a high number of overdoses. . “
Asked why that is, Jones said it’s not clear: “We’m not really sure what it’s about, to be really honest with you,” she said.
Despite concerns that the opioid crisis will continue to rip through communities, Saloner saw a glimmer of hope.
“The federal government has provided more regulatory flexibility to allow people to receive their medication through telehealth options,” and that means patients do not have to go to a clinic every day to get their medications, he said.
But Saloner added, “That ability to continue offering these options will only continue as long as we have a declared federal health care system.”
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Jones said there has been an emphasis on a public education campaign to let people know that although COVID-19 has caused many shutdowns, services and treatment remain available.
Her message: “Know that treatment is available – and that it works.”
WTOP’s Abigail Constantino contributed to this report.
