Whether you were aware of it or not, recently, the state of Maryland declared a state of emergency over the opioid crisis that has enveloped the state. The states growing problems include overdoses linked to the use of heroin and fentanyl, two highly addictive and highly lethal culprits. This year so far 1,468 Maryland residents have fallen victim to opioid overdoses. This number is up more than 62 percent from 2016.

What can the recent state of emergency enacted by Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland show the rest of the country about the epidemic that has become opioid use and addiction in the United States? For starters, this growing epidemic is also slowly evolving into a seeming endemic. The problem here lies not only with the people currently addicted.

But also possibly the lives of those, especially the young and the unborn, that are so impacted by opioid use. The research on ‘heroin-babies’ and drug-addicted infants is clear. But aside from parents who abuse drugs while their child is developing there is also an aspect to drug use that has been proliferated since the use of certain drugs as ‘recreation’ has been added to the equation.

Aside from blaming the legalization of marijuana, in certain parts of the country another culprit that has been identified are prescription painkillers. It has long been asserted that in the twenty-first century the opioid epidemic has gone from being ‘street’ in nature to an elevated ‘high-street’ level. The parallel here being that rather than users of opioids being stereotyped into the homeless and the poor, users are now often wealthier and are also using prescription opioids as means to get the high they crave.