Heroin addiction can hit anyone
We are writing to let The Sun know that we are not going to let our grandson’s death be just another drug-related death. He was just a kid who got caught up the heroinfentanyl epidemic and lost his life.
On June 15, our 18-year-old grandson took heroin laced with fentanyl, got sick and died on Mountain Road in Pasadena. His body laid in plain sight for two days. Cars and people passed by and no one called to report his body. It was his father who found him and called 911.
Our grandson recently finished his fourth stay at a drug rehabilitation clinic and lived at a halfway house for three months. He worked a steady job. He was working on getting his GED. We thought he turned the corner. If we could have kept him in inpatient treatment indefinitely, we would have, but he was never a 24/7 user of drugs. But even with an “occasional” use of heroin, one plays “Russian Roulette” since one never knows exactly what is in the drugs bought on the street.
These teenagers and young adults who are dying today didn’t start with heroin. They progressed from “gateway” drugs like marijuana to pills to even harder drugs as if it was a rite of passage. However, with each step the landscape changes, becoming much more deadly.
Today, while you are reading your newspaper or scanning social media, please don’t read headlines about heroin overdoses and think, “not in my family.” We felt very safe and far removed from the world of heroin. We didn’t educate ourselves on the issues because we didn’t think we needed to. But if you’re raising children today, you need to become educated because the face of today’s heroin addict isn’t that of a homeless soul in an urban back alley. It’s the face of the boy or girl next door. It was the face of our grandson, and it could be the face of a child you love.
We urge you do this in honor of our precious grandson Nicholas, a loving, kindhearted, funny, handsome and intelligent young man. John and Ann Somensky, Odenton
The hidden consequences of a $15 minimum wage
On July 1, 2016, the state minimum wage (upon which Developmental Disabilities Provider Agency funding is based), increased to $8.75 per hour. When legislation was passed in 2014 by the Maryland General Assembly, the state agreed to keep developmental disability funding rates at a percentage above the state minimum wage to ensure we could recruit and retain qualified direct support professionals to provide this important work.
In 2014, Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties increased their county minimum wages to a rate that is much higher than the state minimum wage. The Montgomery County elected leaders recognized that state funding alone was not enough to address the gap between the state minimum wage and the higher county minimum wage. They agreed to allocate supplemental funding to Montgomery County providers to ensure that direct support professionals do not become minimum wage workers.
Unfortunately, Prince George’s County has continued to fail to address this gap, and this year, state funding will be insufficient to cover the costs in that county related to direct support wages, insurance and other necessary operating costs.
Now Baltimore City is looking to raise its minimum wage over that of the state, and in doing so risks making the same mistake of failing to fully consider the effect this action would have on services for people with developmental disabilities in the city (“City Council president says Baltimore can’t afford $15 minimum wage,” July 21).
Unlike other businesses, developmental disability providers cannot make up deficits caused by wage expenditures by raising prices. Our funding allocations are set by the state based on the state’s minimum wage. We also cannot cut services; we have regulations and mandates outlining the services we must provide. Any local jurisdiction that raises its local minimum wage must appropriately address the funding shortfall to prevent a crisis.
We believe local elected officials have a responsibility to protect their citizens with disabilities and the many hardworking staff who care for them on a daily basis.
If a local government fails its most vulnerable citizens, it fails all of its citizens. Ande Kolp, Lanham The writer is chair of the Prince George’s Provider Council, a coalition of 27 agencies that serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.