State legislators battle opioid crisis | State

EASTON — While the county works to unravel stigmas associated with today’s opioid crisis through efforts like Talbot Goes Purple, legislators are allocating millions of dollars to streamline local funding to combat the issue.

In March 2017, Gov. Larry Hogan was the first governor in America to announce a state of emergency in response to the heroin, opioid and fentanyl crisis. This declaration activated the governor’s emergency management authority and enables increased and more rapid coordination between state agencies and local jurisdictions.

The Opioid Operational Command Center was established to lead the state’s response. The OOCC launched “Before It’s Too Late,” the state’s effort to bring awareness to the heroin, opioid and fentanyl epidemic and to mobilize resources for effective prevention, treatment and recovery.

In keeping with the governor’s five-year, $50 million commitment, the Fiscal Year 2020 budget includes the third installment of $10 million to fund activities of the OOCC.

On May 9, 2019, the OOCC released its 2018 annual report.

“…Maryland has made tremendous progress (since Hogan’s State of Emergency) in implementing prevention and educational programs, stepping up enforcement, and expanding treatment and recovery programs throughout the state,” said Steve Schuh, OOCC executive director. “The Opioid Operational Command Center monitors more than 200 performance measures pertaining to programs and best practices, and, as you will see in this report, virtually all of those measures are moving in a positive direction.”

The OOCC found that 2018 was the second consecutive year in which opioid-related fatalities exceeded 2,000. The rate of increase from 2017 to 2018 was 5.2%. This is the second year in a row that the rate of increase in opioid-related fatalities was less than 10%.

The OOCC works closely with the opioid intervention teams (OITs) in each of Maryland’s 24 local jurisdictions.

According to Schuh, working with the Maryland Department of Health, the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention, the Maryland State Department of Education, and other state agencies, the OOCC is budgeted to award approximately $56 million in opioid crisis grants in Fiscal Year 2019. The OOCC and these state partner agencies will support over 100 statewide and local projects in Fiscal Year 2019.

According to the OOCC, two significant opioid-related bills were passed during the 2018 legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly which were the Overdose Data Reporting Act and the Controlled Dangerous Substances – Volume Dealers Act.

The Overdose Data Reporting Act allows EMS providers and law enforcement officials to input and share data about opioid overdoses. First responders can track this information and allocate resources, including naloxone, in near real-time to respond to an extremely potent batch of opioids in a specific area.

The legislation makes Maryland one of 27 states and nearly 300 agencies to use this technology to inform first responders, identify national trends, and prevent overdose deaths.

The Controlled Dangerous Substances – Volume Dealers Act expands the volume dealer statute to include fentanyl and its analogs and allows for more effective prosecution of high-level drug traffickers who deal in large quantities of controlled substances. It also amends how the existing volume dealer statute deals with mixtures containing heroin.

The governor signed an Executive Order (01.01.2018.30) in December 2018 which reaffirmed the OOCC’s lead role in coordinating the statewide response to the opioid epidemic. This order named Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford as chairman of the Inter-Agency Heroin and Opioid Coordinating Council, formalized the structure of the OOCC and established it within MEMA, and designated the 24 OITs that have been developed in each jurisdiction as the mechanism for distributing funds provided through the OOCC.

The executive order thus requires all state agencies to remain at the highest level of alert and engagement with respect to the crisis.

The 2018 annual report from Before It’s Too Late can be found at https://beforeitstoolate.maryland.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2019/05/OOCC-Final-Annual-Report-2018.pdf.