Wicomico County Health Department host 7th annual Overdose Awareness Event
Opioid Crisis
MARYLAND – A Maryland state quarterly report found that in 2023, over 1,500 people have died from fentanyl-related deaths. The Wicomico County Health Department acknowledged those individuals at their 7th Annual Overdose Awareness event. Organizers say it’s a chance to publicly mourn and remember those who have succumbed to addiction.
Delana Willey was a guest speaker at the event and shared her loss with the crowd. She lost both her brother and father to a drug overdose, and her brother who passed last June, was her best friend. “He had goals, he was more than that little bag that took him from me…My brother was 90 days clean when he got a hold of laced heroin, with fentanyl and ketamine in a halfway house in Salisbury, where we had found him in a boat.” Christopher Willey was found on June 10, 2023, after 4 days of searching. Sadly, that’s the case for many across the state who battle with addiction until it ultimately takes their life.
Jessica Taylor with the Wicomico County Health Department says many of them are just trying to escape their pain. “Often what we’re finding, it’s not the drug epidemic, it’s a Trauma epidemic. So, people are reacting to their trauma and they’re self-soothing.” Taylor says drugs have changed so much, many of these deaths are unintentional. “Opioids such as heroin, is not heroin anymore, its straight fentanyl, it’s xylazine, which is not responsive to the lifesaving medication naloxone.
Cocaine is not cocaine anymore. so, people think they get what they get, but they’re not getting that, and it’s very deadly.” She says many people write addicts off as simple drug seekers who want to get a fix, but that’s not always the case. “Is there a prescribed medication that they can no longer get, they need it, and it’s cheaper on the streets, yet they don’t know that a counterfeit pill could kill them.”
Delana says that pain is what kept her brother on his dark path, and it can happen to anyone. “It’s a disease, It truly, truly is. Everyone one in this world is addicted to something whether that is drugs, shopping, television, caffeine, alcohol, everyone’s addicted to something.” Taylor says many times, people believe this is their only relief, and they get trapped by the drugs. Delana says, they are more than their addiction. “These are more than just what the world categorizes them as junkies, and crackheads, and scums of the earth to say. These are brothers, these are fathers, they’re best friends these are employees of the moth, and these are human beings.”
Delana says she is determined to change the world’s outlook on those who overdose. The event concluded at 8 pm, and organizers encouraged the community to come out and interact with those who’ve lost loved ones or are battling addictions themselves. If you wish to send a picture for next year’s event, contact the Wicomico County Health Department.
