“Maryland is grappling with a disturbing and devastating rise in heroin and opioid abuse that directly affects the lives of thousands of men, women, teens and children in our communities. Governor Hogan’s Administration has recognized the urgent need for all of us to come together across our state to tackle this emergency and develop comprehensive recommendations we can act on quickly.

Education must play a vital role in this important effort. The Maryland State Department of Education, working closely with the Office of Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford, and partners at the Departments of Health and Commerce, among others, has launched a multi-faceted prevention and awareness campaign to reach every public school, and virtually every student in middle and high school.

We are currently implementing a number of initiatives and recommendations to address the problems highlighted in both the Governor’s Interim and Final Task Force recommendations, including, but not limited to:

• Incorporate as early and broadly as possible, heroin and opioid prevention information into school health curricula;
• Infuse heroin and opioid prevention information into additional academic disciplines;
• Integrate heroin and opioid addiction prevention projects into our service-learning modules;
• Develop a student-based heroin and opioid prevention campaign; and
• Produce a video public service announcement campaign.

This toolkit is designed to share a wealth of resources and information to support and inform the work taking place in our schools to execute these recommendations– and to provide access to information that students, teachers, and parents can use.”

Sincerely,
Karen B. Salmon, Ph.D., State Superintendent of School