Maryland Public Television (MPT) and over two dozen other local TV and radio stations to air a new program called Breaking Heroin’s Grip: Road To Recovery on February 11 at 7 p.m. The program was produced in association with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – Behavioral Health Administration .
The program focuses on the struggles and recovery efforts of three Maryland residents, in rural and urban settings, dealing with opioid addictions. The documentary portion will last 40 minutes and will be followed by a 20 minute live phone bank staffed by crisis hotline staff who will provide callers with information on treatment. The number to call is 800-422-0009.
The program was arranged with broadcast and print media as part of an effort to bring localized coverage of the opioid epidemic. Maryland is among many states with surging numbers of fatal overdoses largely from opioids, which include prescription painkillers and heroin.
For more information please go here https://www.mpt.org/breakingheroin
Marcus Dolorfinis says
Stop the drug war with objective of shutting down the black market. The drug war has failed. The drug war is driving the problems, not fixing them. Decriminalization/legalization is necessary, it needs to be backed up with public health announcements explaining exactly why it is needed. Its not in any way condoning the abuse of addictors, it is done bc the alternative, the drug war, has made things infinitely worse on almost every level, to include making drugs abundantly available to any & all that wants them.
We need to pull LE out of the drug biz – that will free up a lot of resources currently chasing their collective tails. When the laws create more harm and cause more damage than they prevent, its time to change the laws. The $1 TRILLION so-called war on drugs is a massive big government failure – on nearly every single level. Its way past time to put the cartels & black market drug dealers out of business. Mass incarceration has failed. We cant even keep drugs out of a contained & controlled environment like prison.
We need the science of addiction causation to guide prevention, treatment, recovery & public policies. Otherwise, things will inexorably just continue to worsen & no progress will be made. Addiction causation research has continued to show that some people (suffering with addiction) have a “hypo-active endogenous opioid/reward system.” This is the (real) brain disease, making addiction a symptom, not a disease itself. One disease, one pathology. Policy must be made reflecting addiction(s) as the health issue that it is.
The war on drugs is an apotheosis of the largest & longest war failure in history. It actually exposes our children to more harm & risk and does not protect them whatsoever. In all actuality, the war on drugs is nothing more than an international projection of a domestic psychosis. It is not the “great child protection act,” its actually the complete opposite. Let’s remember, opioids (drug) prohibition is a historical and cultural aberration, just 100 years old. We had fewer drug problems in my own grandparents’ time when opium, morphine, heroin, cocaine and cannabis could all still be bought legally over the counter. (Re)legalizing opioids would not be a “risky social experiment”, as some think. On the contrary, drugs prohibition was the reckless social experiment. And its a massive failure. Alcohol prohibition didn’t work, and opioid prohibition is failing even more miserably. The longer we’ve had drug prohibition laws in place, the worse have the social and health problems they cause gotten.
The lesson is clear: Drug laws do not stop people from harming themselves, but they do cause addicts to commit crimes and harm others. We need a new approach that decriminalizes the disease. We must protect society from the collateral damage of addiction and stop waging war on ourselves. We need common sense harm reduction approaches desperately. MAT (medication assisted treatment) and HAT (heroin assisted treatment) must be available options. Of course, MJ should not be a sched drug at all.
joe diamond says
There is something else,
Remember 1968 & Richard Nixon in the White House? Much like the Republican administration today, then President Nixon hated those who would object to his rule by edict. He discovered that the rhetoric of his man Spiro Agnew got him elected but the hate speech of his VP could not stop the protests. By ’68 America had a close look at what had been going on in SE Asia and wanted it to stop.
What to do?
Presidential advisor John Ehrlichman invented the WAR ON DRUGS.
Nixon needed to get rid of those damn hippies who were objecting to everything he had been doing in ‘Nam. African Americans really wanted the civil rights legislation to work since it had become law. SO the WAR ON DRUGS allowed arresting those damn hippies who objected to the Nixon world order. Their political meetings could be raided & leaders arrested….on drug charges….pot smoking sinners that they were. Likewise, blacks could be linked to heroin and jailed. The War on Drugs…with a Drug Czar….. moved against Nixon critics. That was the plan.
The prisons for profit followed. Nobody ever overdosed or died on marijuana. Jail never cured addiction to heroin…..But that Republican administration did not care….they wanted the noise to stop.
This is not the same thing as saying that there are no vicious thugs involved in the drug trades……there are. The criminalization of drugs just makes the drug biz very profitable……..as long as you are not killed or jailed,
Today we still have the drugs….the feds make marijuana a class 1 drug and ignore all science that pot is pretty harmless stuff. It keeps the jails filled & the cops employed. The Donald and his Republican administration is going to again allow cops to seize assets (cash) regardless of any link to a drug crime…..they just want the money. The Donald recently offered to ruin the career of a Texas legislator who objected to asset forfeiture prior to conviction. The almost empty prison- for-profit cells are going to again be filled with pot smoking kids.
America has had troops on the ground in Afghanistan about fifteen years…….the opium crop is flourishing. Heroin is killing citizens at a great rate as we speak. Mexico is full of drug lords who fight with each other for the rights to ship their drugs ( pot + opium products) north. An afterthought of mine might be to eradicate the crops that produce these drugs….do a worldwide RANCH HAND with a kinder, nicer AGENT ORANGE. We used it to defoliate ‘Nam, all the better to see Charlie……..how about a few spray missions in Afghanistan? How about just dropping the drug related violations associated with marijuana….( no spry required)………&, in any case, insist funds seized in drug cases do go to drug treatment programs? Maryland is OK in this area-….assets cops seize here now go to the MD general fund. But nationally I see The Donald and his Republican administration again using fear & hate to adjust America to his own simple minded world view. He has not yet noticed the drug epidemic……..He is using Islam as a devil for his short term goals. Be ready.
joe
Charles Roe says
Thanks for bringing the Opioid epidemic to light and letting the public know about Maryland’s attention to and ideas how we might address this issue. It is a problem that touches us all and is creating a lost generation of our young people today. Let’s all help to end this National health crisis, educate ourselves and our political representatives to the services and support needed to address this problem! Recovery is and does happen with support , hope and encouragement!
Jayne Fitzgerald says
Thank you, Talbot Spy, for sharing this information. I hope that many Marylander’s watched this and realized the complexity of this insidious disease. For too long we have considered those suffering from addiction to be morally corrupt, but that is simply not the case. We need to understand that once inflicted with the disease you have it for life and short bouts of treatment will not “cure” someone. Just like diabetes, once you have it, you have it for life. Yes, it can be controlled and individuals can life full lives once controlled (the woman in segment 2 shared that), but we also must understand it is a difficult journey to full recovery. I, personally, feel we need to champion those who have been able to work through their addictions – it is an extraordinarily tough battle – not stigmatize them. Maybe then more individuals would step forward toward a healthier life.