On May 20, 42 individuals attended the combined Howard County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Advisory Board (ADAAB) and the county's Opioid Coalition meeting to hear national and state opioid misuse data presented by Dr. Wilson Compton, Deputy Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, former Secretary of the MD Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and now Associate Dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Both Compton and Sharfstein told attendees that heroin use often begins with prescription opioid misuse and praised Howard County for many of their efforts including Naloxone trainings provided by the Health Department, semi-annual Drug Take Back Days, and providing permanent medication collection boxes. The meeting was held at the Howard County Health Department.

Pictured above: Deputy Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Dr. Wilson Compton, County Executive Allan Kittleman, HC DrugFree Executive Director and Chair of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Advisory Board Joan Webb Scornaienchi, Howard County State's Attorney Dario Broccolino, HC DrugFree Board Emeritus and Circuit Court Judge William V. Tucker