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The state's rate of opioid deaths is one of the highest in the nation, according to the CDC.

Maryland Governor Declares State of Emergency to Combat Surge in Opioid Deaths

March 3, 2017

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By Jill Drachenberg, Editor, AHC Media

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan this week declared a state of emergency over the state’s soaring opioid overdose deaths, and pledged an additional $50 million over five years to combat the problem.

The governor’s Heroin and Opioid Prevention, Treatment, and Enforcement Initiative establishes the Opioid Operational Command Center, which will coordinate state and local health and public safety agencies. The emergency declaration will assist in bypassing bureaucratic red tape for quicker response and better coordination between the agencies. The $50 million boost will be available as $10 million per year over five years, and is on top of the state’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s $120 million budget for greater public access to addiction treatment. Maryland Emergency Management Executive Director Clay Stamp will lead emergency response efforts to combat the state’s opioid crisis, including the allocation of funds. The state’s 2018 budget for substance abuse treatment, including state and federal funding and Medicaid, tops $538 million — $215 million of which will disappear if lawmakers repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Maryland is facing an unprecedented rise in opioid deaths, including heroin overdoses. Overdose deaths reached 2,000 in 2016 — double the 2015 rate. Officials see increased incidence of heroin cut with the powerful painkiller fentanyl, a factor fueling overdose deaths. The state’s legislature also is considering bills that would limit the number of opioid prescriptions physicians could write for patients, and impose harsher penalties for drug traffickers. Hogan’s initiative fulfills a 2014 campaign pledge to address and combat the state’s growing addiction and overdose death crisis.

Hogan’s announcement comes a week after the CDC released a report stating that heroin overdose deaths surged from 8% of all overdose deaths in 2010 to 25% in 2015. Total drug overdose deaths rose from 6.1 per 100,000 in 1999 to 16.3 per 100,000 in 2015. Maryland has one of the highest overdose death rates at 20.9 deaths per 100,000 — higher than the national average of 16.3 per 100,000.

For more information on opioid prescribing policies and alternative treatments, please see The Opioid Epidemic: New Policies, Treatments, and Non-Opioid Alternatives. For standards on safe opioid use, see the on-demand webinar Safe Opioid Use: CMS CoPs.