Description

Over the past several years, the drug problem in Cumberland has almost doubled. In 2014, there was 210 non-fatal and 12 fatal overdoses in Allegany County. In 2017, there was 413 non-fatal and 61 fatal overdoses. People's family and friends are dying because of drug overdoses.
I have learned that most people that do or have done drugs do not want to talk to anyone about their experience. There are a few things people can do to prevent drug overdoses like, lock up medications, refuse the prescription of opioids, educated the public, and become trained on Narcan. I personally have created flyers and passed them out in downtown Cumberland and local businesses.
I was able to talk with a girl I went to high school with. At the time, I never would have thought she would end up getting into drugs. I figured she smoked marijuana because just about everyone I knew had tried it. To me she looked like the “pretty and popular” girl. She had nice clothes, her hair and make-up were always perfect, she presented herself very well. But what I didn’t see is her addiction. After graduation it had gotten worse. She was unable to be spontaneous and go on random road trips. She had to plan ahead so she would have enough heroin. Eventually it got to the point where she was unable to function without drugs. To feel “normal” she would have to get high. She stated, “I never really knew how addicted I was.” After she felt like she couldn’t function without, she new it was time for rehab. She tried quitting cold turkey but failed. She went to a rehab program in Florida. She ended up getting pregnant and moving back to Maryland with her boyfriend. She stayed clean until after she gave birth. She relapsed. She tried going to local meetings to get clean again. But she always ended up relapsing. Her mom told her about a new church they started going to with a nine-month rehab program. But she wasn’t interested. She continued to get high. But she was done. She wasn’t happy. She wanted a better life for her family. Her and her boyfriend decided to go that church one day. They talked to the pastor about the Hope Homes. The pastor told them everything they needed to know about it. They didn’t think they could get clean with being in a home that is based of off faith. After they went to church, she got high. She knew she had a big problem. Later that night she told me, “I prayed for the first time with my whole heart. I said God what do I do? I need help please tell me what to do. I went to sleep and in my dream He spoke clearly. He said GO! I woke up and knew. I felt Him with me. We went to church that morning and it hit me. I went to the altar at the end of service and cried my eyes out on the shoulder of a lady I didn’t know.. she held me and I felt safe there. I turned to the pastor’s wife and said I’m coming into the women’s home.” The day she went to the Hope Homes she said, “It felt like God literally picked me up and carried me into the doors of that house.” She completed the nine-month program, got her son back, got married, got good jobs, and is now part of the church family at City Reach. Her and her husband have been clean ever since. An issue we have today is everyone is so judgmental. Just because someone is a drug addict doesn’t make them less of a human. If we would love people as much as we judge, then the world would be a much happier place.