Opinion: Fighting opioid abuse in the ER

The statistics are sobering. Last year, nearly 900 Marylanders died from opioid misuse, including 578 from heroin alone, which means that opioid deaths account for more than 85 percent of all intoxication deaths throughout the state. And the problem is worsening; the 2014 data represent a 22 percent increase from the previous year and a 76 percent increase since 2010. Opioids are painkillers, like morphine and others, and the stories of the pain they cause are saddening. Heroin and opioid misuse touches every county, city, town and subdivision in Maryland. It knows no racial, economic, age or gender boundaries.