How it all began: In 1995, a group of dedicated staff members from a local high school came together to address the challenges of youth drug and alcohol use in their community. This initial effort quickly expanded to encompass multiple schools. By 2004, recognizing the growing demands, the nonprofit organization HC DrugFree was established to comprehensively…
The Maryland Department of Health’s Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) team recently convened a multiagency workgroup to assess the presence of xylazine in Maryland. The Xylazine in Maryland Workgroup (now the Emerging Drug Trends Workgroup) has released a report of their findings, which includes an examination of post-mortem toxicology data and drug-checking data from Maryland’s Rapid Analysis of…
In November 2023, HC DrugFree Executive Director Joan Webb Scornaienchi completed the Standards for Excellence Institute® Licensed Consultants Training Program allowing her to provide training, consulting, and support on the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. Ms. Scornaienchi has the expertise and ability to guide a nonprofit in governance…
November 2023 – SAMHSA has released the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health results, accompanied by a newly offered companion infographic. The 2022 sample size was 71,369 and used multi-mode collection methods in gathering the self-reported data from respondents. Some findings include the following results: • Among the 137.4 million (or 48.7%) current alcohol users aged…
HC DrugFree is proud to partner with the DEA and the Howard County Police Department for our twice a year medication and sharps collection event. On October 28, 2023 we collected 1,223.5 lbs. of medication at the HC DrugFree site in the Wilde Lake Village Center. Below is an excerpt of the press release from…
HC DrugFree collected more than half a ton of medication and sharps on Saturday. The organization that aims to give Howard Country residents resources to prevent, treat, and recover from substance use and behavioral health disorders, collected 43 bins of medication and 24 bins of sharps over four hours at its collection event on Saturday.…
