More than 2,700 Marylanders died from fatal drug and alcohol overdoses last year--a record death toll forced up by the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. Steve Schuh, director of the Opioid Operational Command Center, says state and local agencies have been working around the pandemic’s hurdles to keep providing treatment: "We’re using telehealth, we’re using mail-order distribution of naloxone, and we are allowing people who are on medication assisted treatment to obtain 30 days' worth of their medication, so they don’t have to return to the medical practice to obtain refills.” Schuh describes who is at greatest risk, and how Maryland is coordinating its response to this alarming increase. Read the OOCC's 2020 Annual Report here.

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