ANNAPOLIS, Md. (KR) State Senator, Michael Hough, will be introducing pieces of legislation in the General Assembly to combat the heroin problem in the state.
For the past several years, the number of people in Frederick County over-dosing on heroin has increased significantly. Senator Hough said, continued funding for narcan is something he plans to push for.
“In Maryland, we’ve done a good job at making sure first responders have it, we need to make sure we continue to provide the budget funding for them to have it. It cost about $33.00 everytime they use it, and god forbid that somebody would lose their lives because we didn’t provide the funding for a $33.00 medication to save some young person’s life,” said Hough.
He said many overdoses are caused by heroin that is mixed with fentanyl, an elephant tranquilizer, and other fatal concoctions.
“I’m looking at doing an enhanced penalty for people that sell heroin and they add the even deadlier mixtures,” said Hough.
Hough said he also wants to limit the number of prescription drugs and opioids that doctors provide to their patients. Last year, there were nearly 400 heroin over-doses in Frederick County, according to the Frederick County Police Sheriff’s Office.