HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Calls for expanded addiction recovery services and renewed debate over Maryland’s needle exchange program dominated the public comment portion of the Hagerstown Mayor and City Council meeting this week as residents and recovery advocates urged city leaders to make strategic investments using opioid restitution funding.
Two speakers at the Wednesday, july 28, meeting, talked to the council about addiction, homelessness and public safety, sharing different views on how the city should handle the opioid crisis. One called for more support for treatment and recovery programs, while the other said current harm reduction efforts have not improved some areas.
Bill Johns from True North, which offers sober housing and transportation, encouraged the city to use its opioid restitution funds to expand recovery resources in Hagerstown.
Johns said the settlement money should support proven programs for substance use prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction in the community. He told the council that local organizations have helped people recover from opioid addiction by offering supervised housing, support, treatment, mental health care, and job opportunities.
Johns said that local shelters, treatment centers and sober living homes now house over 400 men and women each night and continue to support many of them during the day.
“These nonprofits and organizations need funding like the restitution fund to help them expand,” Johns said.
Johns listed several funding priorities, including expanding shelter space, increasing inpatient treatment options and providing more sober housing.
He also suggested creating a daytime resource center near current shelters, where people experiencing homelessness could get services after leaving overnight shelters each morning.
He said the center could offer health assessments, restrooms, showers, laundry, computers, clothing, food assistance, job training, job placement and transportation back to participants’ home communities. Johns added that this would help nonprofits and public agencies work together in one place instead of separately.
Johns cited Frederick as a successful model, mentioning his recent visit to programs there serving unhoused residents.
He explained that Frederick’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program connects people to mental health court, drug court, treatment, shelter and recovery housing instead of jail. He also mentioned the city’s work with the nonprofit On Our Own, which runs a central resource center with coordinated support services.
Johns encouraged Hagerstown officials to take a similar team approach, saying that investing in recovery resources would help lower addiction, homelessness and crime, and improve long-term results for residents.
Right after Johns spoke, Hagerstown resident Michael Stout shared a very different view. He focused on what he called worsening drug activity in neighborhoods near Reach of Washington County.
Stout said he has spent years walking around East Washington Street and East Antietam Street, where he often sees drug activity and discarded syringes.
He told the council that he recently picked up thousands of used needles in a three-block area and called the conditions near local businesses and shelters unacceptable.
“I walked two weeks ago, and what I saw on these streets … was shameful and disgusting,” Stout said.
Stout said Maryland’s needle-exchange program has not met its goals and announced that he plans to work with state lawmakers in Annapolis to push for changes.
He said people struggling with addiction need to want recovery before treatment can work. He pointed to a recent fatal incident downtown as proof that stronger action is needed.
Stout also asked city leaders to back new laws to fix what he sees as problems in the state’s harm reduction approach.
Even though the two speakers had different ideas, both agreed that Hagerstown needs to keep focusing on addiction and homelessness.
The Mayor and City Council did not discuss or act on either presentation during the meeting. Still, the comments showed that the community is concerned about how to balance treatment, recovery services, public safety and quality of life as city leaders think about future investments, including opioid restitution funding.
