To Combat Heroin, Harford Sheriff Unveils H.O.P.E. House

BEL AIR, MD - Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler unveiled a new tool in the fight against heroin: a trailer that has been designed to look like a teenager's bedroom.

The mobile unit will travel around the community for the education of adults only, in an effort to show parents what signs to look for in their own homes. Inside the trailer, there are areas made to look like a bathroom and bedroom where a teenager might live.

"In this area, there are more than 50 items that are perhaps indicative of substance abuse," Gahler said, in a Facebook Live tour of the H.O.P.E. House Friday.

Some items, like trinkets with marijuana-leaf prints, were "yellow flags," indicating a propensity for substance abuse. Others, like missing shoelaces and burnt spoons, were "red flags" indicating a likelihood of drug use, Gahler said. Some items were difficult to spot for the untrained eye but had been found in overdose investigations in Harford County, such as a water bottle that has a fake bottom to conceal drugs.

"If you find these things, it's time to start the conversation," Gahler said.

The conversation would involve an action plan such as a path to treatment, he continued, adding that H.O.P.E. House also includes a section about getting help for those suffering from addiction.

The Harford County Sheriff's Office directs people to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to get help for addiction. Marylanders who struggle with substance use disorders can also find location-based treatment resources at MdDestinationRecovery.org or via the 24/7 Maryland Crisis Hotline at 1-800-422-0009.

There have been 61 lives lost to heroin in Harford County so far in 2017, and there have been a total of 314 overdoses in which heroin was suspected countywide this year, according to the sheriff's office.

Harford County reported 290 heroin-related overdoses, of which 56 were deadly, in all of 2016.

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The H.O.P.E. Workgroup, which helped come up with the idea of the H.O.P.E. House, is a panel formed under Gahler in April 2015 to help shape policies and protocols around heroin in Harford County. It stands for "Heroin Overdose Prevention Effort" (H.O.P.E.).

Two members of the group have children who died from heroin in Harford County whose faces and personal stories appear within the H.O.P.E. House. There are also a series of local public service announcements in and outside the trailer showing how the deadly toll heroin takes is close to home.

The H.O.P.E. House was made possible by multiple organizations: the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, H.O.P.E. Workgroup, Harford County Office of Drug Control Policy, Harford County Narcotics Task Force, Harford Sheriff Foundation, Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association and the Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Association, which donated the trailer.

H.O.P.E. House will make its first public appearance at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 14, at Bel Air High School, at Harford County's "State of Addiction" forum. It will also be at the Level firehouse on Sunday, Oct. 1, and Joppa-Magnolia firehouse on Sunday, Oct. 8, for their open houses.

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Still pictures courtesy from the Harford County Sheriff's Office video tour of the H.O.P.E. House unveiling on Sept. 8 at the southern precinct in Edgewood.