(May 26, 2016) When the Worcester County Warriors Against Opiate Addiction met for the first time in April, approximately 50 people gathered in a small space tucked inside the Ocean Pines Library.
The new group dedicated to raising awareness of the growing heroic problem in the area was formed by two mothers, who had seen their children succumb to addiction.
They spent most of that initial assembly listening to stories, from survivors and those who had lost loved ones, and from others who simply showed up with questions and concerns, but with little real knowledge of the problem.
By Tuesday evening, during the group’s second meeting, things had changed. This session was held in a larger venue, television cameras were set in the room and attendance had easily tripled.
Instead of firsthand stories, the group now had guest speakers, including local politicians and law enforcement professionals, educators and addiction specialists.
Twenty minutes before the scheduled start time, workers at the Worcester County Worship Center in Berlin, where the meeting was moved to accommodate the expected swell in attendance, were still pacing around the room, looking for places to put the overflow of people standing up in the back.
Organizers Heidi McNeely and Jackie Ball could be seen near the front greeting guests, talking about the importance of the issue. By all evidence, a movement had been born.
“This is our second meeting – that is unbelievable,” McNeely said. “When we held our first meeting, we didn’t know what to expect. We thought maybe, if we were lucky, we’d get 15 people.”
McNeely said they had planned to hold the second meeting in the library until about two weeks ago, “when this caught fire.”
“Just look at this,” she said. “We cried when 50 people showed up. This is unbelievable, and this just shows you how very, very much we are each touched by this epidemic and how we need to come together to fight to destroy this monster in our community.
“A lot of people are angry. A lot of people are frustrated … use that energy that we’re feeling to fight this,” she continued. “You are all warriors, and this is the first step in this battle.”
Ball said many in the room had been affected by opiate abuse.
“We all have friends who have been addicted. We’ve all been through the struggles,” she said. “I think we all came to the same conclusion a couple of months ago, where enough is enough. I think that’s the feeling that everybody has here, so we’re going to take that energy that we’re feeling and we’re going to start to get informed and educate the public, and we’re going to come together and we’re going to try and do something.
“I don’t want to hear about one more child who is dying,” Ball continued. “And I’m sure nobody else here does either.”
Guest speakers included Del. Mary Beth Carozza, who said she was working with Gov. Larry Hogan, who put together a heroin epidemic task force.
She invited a member from that group, Dr. Michael Finegan, a psychologist from Salisbury, to speak.
Finegan said one person dies every 19 minutes in the United States because of drug overdoses. Recently, he said 11 people in Wicomico County overdosed during a five-day period.
Focusing on harm reduction and peer support could help curb that problem, he said.
“We need to use the energy and the suffering in this room,” he said. “ If you want to make a significant difference, speak up with courage.”
Worcester County State’s Attorney Beau Oglesby said his office was focusing on punishing dealers, although he admitted police could not “incarcerate your way out of this problem.”
Oglesby said he came to the meeting not only as a prosecutor, but also as a parent. That would become a recurring theme during the meeting.
“I am frightened,” he said. “I am terrified, because when I see videos or pictures of news articles … I see my daughter and I see my son because this drug – this scourge – cannot discriminate.”
Sgt. Nate Passwaters, head of the Worcester County Drug Task Force, said police saw a huge influx of heroin cases starting in 2012.
“In my capacity, I’ve had this opportunity to go to a lot of organization meetings, not just here in Worcester County, but also outside the county in other states,” he said. “By far, this is the biggest turnout I’ve ever seen.”
In the case of overdoses, he said police were focused on tracking the source of the drugs.
“We’re not there to victimize – we’re not there to arrest – we’re there to gather information, because knowledge is power,” he said.
“Through the commitment [and] unified effort … we can get through this as a community,” he continued. “I’ve ever seen this many people come together. It’s very emotional.”
Steve Price, from the Worcester County Board of Education, said he too was overwhelmed by the turnout.
“We deal with the youth of our community every day,” he said. “We’ve tried, over the years, to work very closely with the health department, law enforcement, state’s attorney’s office, but that challenge has changed for us, and we understand that. We know we have to be different.”
Price said he was also there as a grandparent.
“I have three grandsons in our school system, and I’m terrified too,” he said. “I’m here to promise our school system is ready to partner with you, with the community, the health department, whoever we have to partner with to ensure ourselves that our children and future generations don’t go down this path.”
Dave Baker, a coordinator with the Worcester County Health Department, spoke about the “Decisions Matter” campaign launched last August in partnership with law enforcement. The campaign includes an awareness drive on billboards, television and radio.
He said Worcester County had three drug drop-off boxes that were open 24 hours a day a the Snow Hill, Ocean Pines and Ocean City police departments.
Kutresa Lankford, also from the health department, said the resources were also there for people struggling with addiction in the county, especially at the W.A.C.S. Center in West Ocean City, which offers an intensive outpatient care program as well as information for parents.
“Let’s say it’s just a parent who’s calling for a kid and they don’t know where to start. I’m going to suggest that you call to the W.A.C.S. Center, 410-213-0202. We have a counselor every day who is going to be there to help you navigate treatment, navigate options – someone to talk to. A lot of people just need someone to talk to,” she said.
While she admitted the health department was not a “one-stop” or be-all solution to the problem, she said it could at least serve as a starting point in the conversation.
“Our goal is the same goal. Everyone here wants to see people survive. We want people to live,” she said.
Dozens of Narcotics Anonymous groups and other organizations in the area that can help people struggling with drug addiction can be found by visiting www.ogana.org or www.na.org.
Jake Windsor, a peer support counselor with the health department, and Corey Hassett, from the Amethyst Recovery Center, both spoke as former addicts who are now working in the recovery field.
Windsor urged people to take advantage of the health department’s free Naloxone training program, which teaches people to administer the anti-overdose drug.
Free classes are held every fourth Wednesday at the Ocean Pines Library, and every second and fourth Friday of the month at the Snow Hill Health Department.
“We encourage everyone to get trained,” he said. “It’s basically an hour out of your life to get a prescription that could save a loved one.”
He said education was the most important tool for the people who have friends or family with addiction problems, and that one of the few blessings of the situation was that the old stigmas of drug addiction were falling away.
“No longer is it the person that is living under the bridge that you can say, ‘Well, we’re not them,’” Windsor said. “Addiction knows no skin color, no religious background, no income level. If affects all kinds.”
Hassett said his addiction “cultivated itself” in and around Ocean City.
“I worked in these restaurants – probably stole from a lot of these stores,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to be up here on stage telling you guys that. I lived a terrible life out there, but there is a possibility of recovery and a new way of life.”
Tuesday was Hassett’s 28th birthday – his second consecutive sober celebration.
“What I want to do for this community is, if you have a loved one struggling, you yourself are struggling, you have questions that you need answers to – I’ve been in those shoes,” he said. “My parents were completely blind to treatment [and] had no idea there was an option for their son, who was shooting heroin in their basement just two years ago.”
He offered his phone number to everyone in the room, and left cards at the front desk.
McNeely said the next step for the group would be dividing into subcommittees, including education, awareness and resources navigation, the latter of which she would head up herself. She asked people to volunteer for one – or all four – groups.
General “Warriors” meetings would also continue, with the next one scheduled for June 21 at the Worship Center.
“We have no rules at this point, we just want to beat this,” she said. “We desperately need you guys. Even if it’s something that you’re not able to commit to and you don’t necessarily want to be a big, active part of a committee, just support us. Whatever you can do, get the word out.”
Ball said there were five things everyone could do to keep the momentum of the group going: stay informed and pass information along, talk to a teen or an adolescent, lock up medications at home, “like” the group’s Facebook page or leave an email, and get Naloxone or Narcan training.
“It does save a life,” she said. “If there is anyone who has any loved one who is using, you should be training.”
For more information on the Worcester County Warriors Against Opiate Addiction, email McNeely at heidi.anne@verizon.net, visit www.wocowarriors.org, or search “Worcester County Warriors Against Opiate Addiction” on Facebook.
The new group dedicated to raising awareness of the growing heroic problem in the area was formed by two mothers, who had seen their children succumb to addiction.
They spent most of that initial assembly listening to stories, from survivors and those who had lost loved ones, and from others who simply showed up with questions and concerns, but with little real knowledge of the problem.
By Tuesday evening, during the group’s second meeting, things had changed. This session was held in a larger venue, television cameras were set in the room and attendance had easily tripled.
Instead of firsthand stories, the group now had guest speakers, including local politicians and law enforcement professionals, educators and addiction specialists.
Twenty minutes before the scheduled start time, workers at the Worcester County Worship Center in Berlin, where the meeting was moved to accommodate the expected swell in attendance, were still pacing around the room, looking for places to put the overflow of people standing up in the back.
Organizers Heidi McNeely and Jackie Ball could be seen near the front greeting guests, talking about the importance of the issue. By all evidence, a movement had been born.
“This is our second meeting – that is unbelievable,” McNeely said. “When we held our first meeting, we didn’t know what to expect. We thought maybe, if we were lucky, we’d get 15 people.”
McNeely said they had planned to hold the second meeting in the library until about two weeks ago, “when this caught fire.”
“Just look at this,” she said. “We cried when 50 people showed up. This is unbelievable, and this just shows you how very, very much we are each touched by this epidemic and how we need to come together to fight to destroy this monster in our community.
“A lot of people are angry. A lot of people are frustrated … use that energy that we’re feeling to fight this,” she continued. “You are all warriors, and this is the first step in this battle.”
Ball said many in the room had been affected by opiate abuse.
“We all have friends who have been addicted. We’ve all been through the struggles,” she said. “I think we all came to the same conclusion a couple of months ago, where enough is enough. I think that’s the feeling that everybody has here, so we’re going to take that energy that we’re feeling and we’re going to start to get informed and educate the public, and we’re going to come together and we’re going to try and do something.
“I don’t want to hear about one more child who is dying,” Ball continued. “And I’m sure nobody else here does either.”
Guest speakers included Del. Mary Beth Carozza, who said she was working with Gov. Larry Hogan, who put together a heroin epidemic task force.
She invited a member from that group, Dr. Michael Finegan, a psychologist from Salisbury, to speak.
Finegan said one person dies every 19 minutes in the United States because of drug overdoses. Recently, he said 11 people in Wicomico County overdosed during a five-day period.
Focusing on harm reduction and peer support could help curb that problem, he said.
“We need to use the energy and the suffering in this room,” he said. “ If you want to make a significant difference, speak up with courage.”
Worcester County State’s Attorney Beau Oglesby said his office was focusing on punishing dealers, although he admitted police could not “incarcerate your way out of this problem.”
Oglesby said he came to the meeting not only as a prosecutor, but also as a parent. That would become a recurring theme during the meeting.
“I am frightened,” he said. “I am terrified, because when I see videos or pictures of news articles … I see my daughter and I see my son because this drug – this scourge – cannot discriminate.”
Sgt. Nate Passwaters, head of the Worcester County Drug Task Force, said police saw a huge influx of heroin cases starting in 2012.
“In my capacity, I’ve had this opportunity to go to a lot of organization meetings, not just here in Worcester County, but also outside the county in other states,” he said. “By far, this is the biggest turnout I’ve ever seen.”
In the case of overdoses, he said police were focused on tracking the source of the drugs.
“We’re not there to victimize – we’re not there to arrest – we’re there to gather information, because knowledge is power,” he said.
“Through the commitment [and] unified effort … we can get through this as a community,” he continued. “I’ve ever seen this many people come together. It’s very emotional.”
Steve Price, from the Worcester County Board of Education, said he too was overwhelmed by the turnout.
“We deal with the youth of our community every day,” he said. “We’ve tried, over the years, to work very closely with the health department, law enforcement, state’s attorney’s office, but that challenge has changed for us, and we understand that. We know we have to be different.”
Price said he was also there as a grandparent.
“I have three grandsons in our school system, and I’m terrified too,” he said. “I’m here to promise our school system is ready to partner with you, with the community, the health department, whoever we have to partner with to ensure ourselves that our children and future generations don’t go down this path.”
Dave Baker, a coordinator with the Worcester County Health Department, spoke about the “Decisions Matter” campaign launched last August in partnership with law enforcement. The campaign includes an awareness drive on billboards, television and radio.
He said Worcester County had three drug drop-off boxes that were open 24 hours a day a the Snow Hill, Ocean Pines and Ocean City police departments.
Kutresa Lankford, also from the health department, said the resources were also there for people struggling with addiction in the county, especially at the W.A.C.S. Center in West Ocean City, which offers an intensive outpatient care program as well as information for parents.
“Let’s say it’s just a parent who’s calling for a kid and they don’t know where to start. I’m going to suggest that you call to the W.A.C.S. Center, 410-213-0202. We have a counselor every day who is going to be there to help you navigate treatment, navigate options – someone to talk to. A lot of people just need someone to talk to,” she said.
While she admitted the health department was not a “one-stop” or be-all solution to the problem, she said it could at least serve as a starting point in the conversation.
“Our goal is the same goal. Everyone here wants to see people survive. We want people to live,” she said.
Dozens of Narcotics Anonymous groups and other organizations in the area that can help people struggling with drug addiction can be found by visiting www.ogana.org or www.na.org.
Jake Windsor, a peer support counselor with the health department, and Corey Hassett, from the Amethyst Recovery Center, both spoke as former addicts who are now working in the recovery field.
Windsor urged people to take advantage of the health department’s free Naloxone training program, which teaches people to administer the anti-overdose drug.
Free classes are held every fourth Wednesday at the Ocean Pines Library, and every second and fourth Friday of the month at the Snow Hill Health Department.
“We encourage everyone to get trained,” he said. “It’s basically an hour out of your life to get a prescription that could save a loved one.”
He said education was the most important tool for the people who have friends or family with addiction problems, and that one of the few blessings of the situation was that the old stigmas of drug addiction were falling away.
“No longer is it the person that is living under the bridge that you can say, ‘Well, we’re not them,’” Windsor said. “Addiction knows no skin color, no religious background, no income level. If affects all kinds.”
Hassett said his addiction “cultivated itself” in and around Ocean City.
“I worked in these restaurants – probably stole from a lot of these stores,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to be up here on stage telling you guys that. I lived a terrible life out there, but there is a possibility of recovery and a new way of life.”
Tuesday was Hassett’s 28th birthday – his second consecutive sober celebration.
“What I want to do for this community is, if you have a loved one struggling, you yourself are struggling, you have questions that you need answers to – I’ve been in those shoes,” he said. “My parents were completely blind to treatment [and] had no idea there was an option for their son, who was shooting heroin in their basement just two years ago.”
He offered his phone number to everyone in the room, and left cards at the front desk.
McNeely said the next step for the group would be dividing into subcommittees, including education, awareness and resources navigation, the latter of which she would head up herself. She asked people to volunteer for one – or all four – groups.
General “Warriors” meetings would also continue, with the next one scheduled for June 21 at the Worship Center.
“We have no rules at this point, we just want to beat this,” she said. “We desperately need you guys. Even if it’s something that you’re not able to commit to and you don’t necessarily want to be a big, active part of a committee, just support us. Whatever you can do, get the word out.”
Ball said there were five things everyone could do to keep the momentum of the group going: stay informed and pass information along, talk to a teen or an adolescent, lock up medications at home, “like” the group’s Facebook page or leave an email, and get Naloxone or Narcan training.
“It does save a life,” she said. “If there is anyone who has any loved one who is using, you should be training.”
For more information on the Worcester County Warriors Against Opiate Addiction, email McNeely at heidi.anne@verizon.net, visit www.wocowarriors.org, or search “Worcester County Warriors Against Opiate Addiction” on Facebook.