St. Mary's is dedicated to raising awareness and offering hope to individuals battling addiction and their families. Through compassionate support, education, and community engagement, the Prevention and Recovery Ministry strive to create a safe space for healing and recovery. Our mission is to empower those affected by addiction, providing resources and guidance to navigate the path toward a healthier, substance-free life. Together, we are fostering resilience and building a supportive community for lasting change.
Prevention and Recovery Ministry
Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to compel a person into labor or to participate in commercial sex against their will. It often involves extensive grooming and victimizes vulnerable people, like those who are addicted to drugs or alcohol, have mental health problems, are recent migrants, or are children who have run away from home. It can look like a boyfriend using emotional abuse or threats to force his girlfriend to perform sex work to buy drugs or pay the bills. Under federal law, all instances of children under 18 engaging in sex work are considered trafficking. Researchers agree that the majority of victims and survivors are women and girls. Ashley McAree is a forensic nurse at Towson’s Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) and human trafficking liaison for the hospital’s Sexual Assault Forensic Examination, Domestic Violence and Child Protection (SAFE, DV, and CPP) Program. The program is open 24/7/365 and provides free care to survivors and victims of all ages, including trauma-informed forensic and medical exams, peer recovery support, advocacy and education. GBMC’s Anti-Human Trafficking Initiative was recently awarded $50,000 from the federal government, one of 18 winners across the country of its Innovation Challenge to prevent human trafficking among women and girls. Educating community members, from teachers and court-appointed special advocates to naval officers and school resource officers, about human trafficking is a vital role that the Anti-Human Trafficking Initiative plays in Baltimore County and elsewhere in the state. “The truth is that human trafficking, it is happening all around us. It’s happening to so many different populations of people,” McAree said. SARC (The Sexual Assault/Spouse Abuse Resource Center) is Harford County’s lifeline to victims, potential victims, and survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse and stalking. Working within the community, they are a catalyst for the eradication and prevention of violence. Here is their link: About Sarc - SARC (sarc-maryland.org). Here's the link to the article: GBMC aims to expand anti-human trafficking initiative (baltimoresun.com)
August 30th-31st, 2024
Prevention and Recovery MinistryActor Matthew Perry's autopsy report states that he died as a result of “acute effects of ketamine” and subsequent drowning. He was receiving ketamine infusion therapy from his physicians to treat depression, but prosecutors said the actor turned to other sources when his doctors refused to give him more doses. Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic approved by U.S. health regulators for use during surgery. The drug is a chemical cousin of the recreational drug PCP. Ketamine itself has been used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It can cause hallucinations and can impact breathing and the heart. It can cause mood changes, ranging from euphoria to suicidality. It can affect behavior, ranging from sedation to violence. Commonly known as "Special K," the drug can be injected or used in its powder form that is snorted, smoked, or mixed into drinks. Ketamine is known to be a “date rape” drug as it causes short-term memory loss. Ketamine has seen a huge surge in use in recent years as a treatment for depression, anxiety and pain. While the drug isn’t approved for those conditions, doctors are free to prescribe drugs for so-called off-label uses. Ketamine also has been used by paramedics as a sedative, often while working alongside police when they believed subjects were out of control. An analysis by The Associated Press of policies on ketamine and cases where the drug was used during police encounters uncovered a lack of police training, conflicting medical standards and nonexistent protocols that have resulted in hospitalizations and even deaths. As stated by Lindsay Smith Rogers, the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, "Self-medication is risky. Millions of Americans are self-medicating with alcohol, and others increasingly with marijuana, and so on, all the time. But the bottom line is, ketamine is a very, very dangerous drug. Anybody self-medicating with this is taking some pretty big risks."
Here's the link: What is ketamine, the drug involved in Matthew Perry's death? | AP News
August 24th-25th, 2024
Prevention and Recovery Ministry
Dr. Harsh Trivedi is a child and adolescent psychiatrist. He is the president and chief executive officer of Sheppard Pratt Hospital in Towson, MD. And he is the father of teenagers. On a daily basis, he sees the role that social media plays in the lives of our youth. He supports U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's campaign to better protect America’s youth against the harms of social media to their mental health. The campaign calls for regulations such as limiting the amount of time that our children and grandchildren spend online and mandating warning labels on social media sites similar to the ones we see on cigarette packs. According to the CDC, 42% of high schoolers report symptoms of depression or feeling sad or hopeless. We know that mental health issues may adversely impact a teen’s physical health, academic success and social relationships. According to the Jason Foundation, more teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from “cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease” combined. This foundation is a non-profit that provides education, resources, and support to prevent youth suicides. Dr. Trivedi believes that the youth mental health crisis requires a broad response from schools, parents and lawmakers to help our young people thrive. We need to connect every child to high-quality, affordable, culturally competent mental health care. We must expand school-based mental health resources and trauma-informed care practices. In our health care settings, we should routinely screen for adverse childhood experiences, invest in early childhood interventions, and equip pediatricians to manage more routine mental health issues. Policies to limit social media use may improve mental wellness for an entire generation of young people. But they will only be effective if we also work together to provide additional support and solutions for adolescents. Our children’s mental health and lives are at stake; we all must do better and be the “warning label” protecting our youth.
Here's the link: How we can meet youth mental health crisis (baltimoresun.com)
August 17-18, 2024
Prevention and Recovery Ministry
Here's the link: Baltimore argues drug companies flooded city with opioids (baltimoresun.com)
August 10-11, 2024
Prevention and Recovery Ministry
What scale do we use to weigh all the pain inflicted on generations of Baltimoreans by heroin, cocaine, crack and, in more recent years, fentanyl? In 50 years of ER visits for drug overdoses? In deaths listed as premature? In the cost of drug treatment and prison time? In the number of parents left bereft and children left without parents? In the emotional toll on 1st responders and healthcare workers? In the abandonment of neighborhoods? There are costs impossible to measure, going back decades. According to state data, between 2017 and 2021, opioid-related deaths in Baltimore City, which has about 10% of the state’s population, accounted for 38.4% of Maryland’s total opioid-related deaths. For a bit of good news, it was announced in June, that the pharmaceutical company Allergan will pay a $45 million settlement to the city of Baltimore within 30 days for its role in the opioid epidemic. By going its own way and filing suit in state court, the city reaped a much larger settlement than it would have along another path. Had it joined other Maryland jurisdictions in negotiating a so-called global settlement with the manufacturers, the payoff would have been $7 million spread over seven years. The city is still suing Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, Walgreens, CVS, Teva, former Insys CEO John Kapoor, members of the Sackler family and others. The potential settlements could be huge, reaching the hundreds of millions, if not $1 billion or more. That kind of money could go deep: For more and better treatment for those in recovery, but also for healing those who’ve been traumatized. In its settlement agreement with Allergan, the city committed $5 million to a peer navigator program that supports people in recovery and $5 million to Charm City Care Connection, another local initiative helping victims. The city will create a board to oversee how the opioid settlement money is spent. The link to the article can be found in the Parish newsletter and on St. Mary's FaceBook page
August 3-4, 2024
Prevention and Recovery Ministry
Gun violence became the leading cause of death in children in 2020. New research out of Duke University found that some gun laws can prevent firearm suicides among children and teens. States with child access prevention laws, safe storage laws and mandatory waiting periods had lower rates of suicide deaths among children 18 and younger. Researchers analyzed firearm death data from the CDC, looking at more than 17,000 child gun-related deaths that occurred between 2009 and 2020. Of these deaths, 6,700 were suicides and over 10,200 were homicides. The data shows that a handgun was used in a majority of these youth homicides and suicides. Researchers said stand-your-ground laws increased children and teens' risk of suicide. At the same time, laws that set a minimum age for possession of guns did not significantly change the suicide death rate. In June, the U.S. Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis. He issued a 39-page advisory on initiatives to prevent firearm deaths. The advisory said the rate of firearm-related deaths “reached a near three-decade high in 2021." More than 48,000 people died by gun violence in 2022 – that's an increase of 16,000 deaths compared to 2010. At the same time, the advisory noted that firearm-related suicides have increased by 20%, including a “staggering increase” in such deaths among young people. The lead researcher on the Duke report said, "We know that children are getting guns to kill themselves,". More laws that control access to guns amongst children and teens can help prevent these deaths.
Here's the link: Gun laws lower firearm-related suicides among youth, study shows (msn.com)
July 14, 2024
So, here are 2 terms that we haven't heard before: liquid heroin and lean heroin. Authorities recently announced the seizure of 1.4 metric tons of liquid heroin in Oregon. During the arrest, investigators found eight 55-gallon barrels containing 370 gallons of liquid narcotics. Liquid heroin can be stored and sold in small eye droppers. Liquid heroin can also refer to black tar heroin mixed with water. Lean isn't actually heroin. Also known by its street name of "purple drank," Lean is an opioid drug made from codeine cough syrup and soda. Codeine is an opioid pain reliever used to treat mild to moderately severe pain. Many folks abuse Lean because they believe prescription drugs are safer than illicit drugs, but high amounts of codeine can lead to serious effects like a slowed heart rate and breathing issues and death.
Here is the link: What is liquid heroin? 1.4 metric tons seized in Oregon bust (usatoday.com)
February 18
Cigarette smoking has long been described as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The CDC puts the annual toll at 480,000 lives. In 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General released an authoritative report that said smoking causes illness and death and that the government should do something about it. In the decades that followed, warning labels were put on cigarette packs, cigarette commercials were banned, governments raised tobacco taxes and new restrictions were placed on where people could light up. Today, some public health experts say a similar report could help clear the air about vaping. The FDA and most scientists agree that, based on available evidence, electronic cigarettes are far less dangerous than traditional cigarettes. But that doesn’t mean e-cigarettes are harmless. Studies have detected bronchitis symptoms and aggravation of asthma in young people who vape. Research also indicates vaping can affect the cells that line the blood vessels and heart and could lead to heart disease. Perhaps the most cited concern is nicotine, the stimulant that makes cigarettes and vapes addictive. E-cigarettes haven’t been around long enough for scientists to see if vapers develop problems like lung cancer and heart disease. In 2016, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said efforts were needed to prevent and reduce e-cigarette use by children and young adults, saying nicotine in any form is unsafe for kids. “There have been so many confusing messages about vaping,”. “A surgeon general’s report could clear that all up.”. Here's the link: A surgeon general report once cleared the air about smoking. Is it time for one on vaping? (sfgate.com)