Mobilizing Communities & First Responders
In communities across the country, the opioid epidemic is taking hundreds of lives every day. In Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC alone, 3,225 people died last year from opioid-related overdoses. The epidemic shows no signs of slowing, and communities are grappling with the resources to effectively fight back.
That’s why our mission to care for cops and the communities they serve has never been more important than it is now. Code 3 has become increasingly focused on educating local police about the scope of the problem, equipping them with the resources they need to identify and target illegal prescribers, and empowering officers and communities with the life-saving resources they need to help their neighbors before it is too late.
More than 50 officers from Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia attended Code 3’s first Drug Diversion Training on Oct. 4 at the Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security.
Our Approach
1. We educate first responders on how to address the opioid crisis in their local communities. We host Drug Diversion Trainings that teach uniformed officers how to identify and target illegal opioid prescribers, implement pharmaceutical and health facility diversion strategies, and safely handle fentanyl and carfentanil. To-date, the training has been attended by more than 50 officers from the U.S. Park Police; U.S. State’s Attorneys Office; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC; Charles County, MD; Montgomery County, MD; Queen Anne’s County, MD; and Fairfax County, VA.
2. We empower communities to identify signs of opioid abuse and intervene when necessary. We have developed a Drug Identification, Awareness & Intervention Training to assist parents, teachers, doctors, officers and concerned citizens about how to identify risk behaviors related to opioid use, intervene and prevent continued use.
