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Facing Addiction, Together Local advocacy groups join to help solve the crisis in their community. BY JOYCE HEID
W
hen Denise Williams’s children were younger, the Pasadena mother did everything she could for them. She went to concerts, track meets and did all the things good moms do. She had two amazing sons and never thought she would lose one, much less both, to addiction. Ryan was a star athlete in high school and according to her, “He put Northeast on the map for his outstanding running ability.” His twin brother, Matthew,
was a talented musician. Typical teenagers, they experimented with alcohol at parties, but there were no major indicators of the nightmare that would follow. After college, failed relationships and financial situations drove Ryan to seek an escape from his problems. His brother, who was already dabbling in drugs to deal with his own mental health issues, introduced him to heroin as a coping mechanism. After a three-year battle with addiction, Ryan died at the age of 29. “Matthew lived three more years after Ryan, but I Upcoming Community Listening Sessions think that though he was physically facebook.com/facingaddictionannearundel here, he died the same day as his brother. He couldn’t live with the March 7 March 26 depression and guilt. He couldn’t The Church at Severn Run, Community United Methodist live with the drugs and he couldn’t NARCAN training, Church, NARCAN training, live without them.” 6–6:30 p.m.; open 6:30–7 p.m.; open discussion, 6:30–8 p.m. discussion, 7–8:30 p.m. Tweens, teenagers, artists and athletes. Sons, daughters, parents March 21 April 4 and grandparents. Black, white, West Arundel Creative Arts, Arundel Christian Church, Hispanic. Public school students, NARCAN training, NARCAN training, 6–6:30 private school students. These are 6–6:30 p.m.; open p.m.; open discussion, discussion, 6:30–8 p.m. 6:30–8 p.m. the lives cut short by addiction. In 2018 there were 1,077 total In addition to the Community Listening Sessions, Facing overdoses in Anne Arundel Addiction Anne Arundel holds a monthly meeting the County—166 of which were fatal. second Tuesday of every month at the Panera Bread The first month of 2019 has shown located at 8125 Ritchie Highway in Pasadena at little improvement, with 76 total 6:30 p.m. All are welcome. overdoses, 13 of which were fatal.
Recent headlines often highlight an opioid crisis. But Debi Keane says that the tragedy of addiction in our community is nothing new. Keane is chair of Facing Addiction Anne Arundel, the local chapter of the national nonprofit committed to bringing together resources to reduce the human and social costs of addiction. “Addiction has had a strong hold on Anne Arundel County for a long time,” she says, “manifesting as alcoholism, cocaine/crack addiction, and prescription abuse/addiction. The current opioid crisis has spotlighted the crisis due to the fatal overdoses from fentanyl opioids.” Although addiction is nothing new, Keane notes that “the age of the user has progressively gotten younger. The potency of the drugs has gotten much stronger, i.e. the introduction of fentanyl has changed the game of addiction.” That game changer extends to treatment as well. “Where in the past addicts would hit ‘bottom’ and seek treatment,” Keane says, “the fentanyl is actually killing people before they have a chance to hit that bottom. However, I believe that the tide may start to change with the new awareness that people are dying and that addiction knows no boundaries.” Addiction does not limit its destruction to the user. Keane describes it as a “generational trauma” due to the record number of children impacted by it. “Those with fatal overdoses are leaving children behind in record numbers. Some of those children are lucky enough to have extended family take them in, the rest are going into the foster system and taxing an already overburdened Child Protective Services division of the Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services.” Another organization, Recovery Anne Arundel, was established in 2008 as a small group of stakeholders in the community interested in becoming change agents for individuals in or seeking recovery. Today the organization has grown to over 40 active
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M ARCH 2019
