May 11th, 2017 by WCBC Radio
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and the leaders of Virginia and the District of Columbia pledged this week to wage a coordinated fight against the epidemic of heroin and other opioid overdoses afflicting the region. Maryland's governor joined with Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser at the Regional Opioid and Substance Abuse Summit in Linthicum Heights, where addiction experts and public officials gathered to discuss strategies for fighting a scourge that is now killing more than 1,000 Marylanders a year. Hogan made the surge in heroin and other drug-related deaths a key issue in his 2014 campaign and has made fighting the epidemic a priority. Nevertheless, drug and alcohol intoxication deaths in Maryland — most of them involving heroin, fentanyl and other opioid drugs — soared by about 50 percent in 2016. He acknowledges that in spite of the effort, the reality is that the threat has rapidly escalated…
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