Harford County officials are continuing to battle a heroin epidemic that is still affecting, and claiming, lives throughout the county, as well as the region.
The Sheriff's Office reports it has been called out for at least 79 heroin overdoses so far in 2016, at least nine of them fatal.
"We continue to see an upward trend," Sheriff Jeff Gahler told the County Council during a hearing on his agency's budget earlier this week.
He noted the 201 overdoses investigated in Harford in 2015 and that at this time last year, there had been 48.
Other states have reported new opioid-related trends, including counterfeits of prescription medications, such as Xanax and Percocet, that are laced with synthetic opioids. Carroll County recently become the first county in Maryland to report the presence such drugs.
"At this time, we have not seized any counterfeit Xanax or Percocet in Harford County," Sheriff's Office spokesperson Cristie Kahler reported Tuesday.
The county is seeing the addictive nature of heroin affect the same individuals over and over again, however, Gahler told the County Council.
One person overdosed three times the previous weekend, Gahler said Monday.
Nevertheless, he also said the county's transparent and multi-agency approach puts Harford at the forefront of nationwide battles against opioids.
"I think, in many cases, we, as a county, are leading the fight against heroin," he said. "Right now we are the role model."
The county is continuing to administer the anti-opiate Narcan when first responders are dispatched on overdose calls. The Sheriff's Office used Narcan 46 times since starting the program, Gahler said.
The Sheriff's Office conducted 137 heroin investigations in 2015, he said. So far this year, the office has seen 68 felony arrests and two federal indictments for dealing the drug.
More than 5 1/2 pounds of heroin and $250,000 in cash has been seized in the investigations this year, Gahler said.
The county also introduced the use of Vivitrol, or naltrexone, in the detention center, which "makes you unable to get the high" of heroin for about 30 days, Gahler said.
Seventeen people have come through the Vivitrol program since June 2015 and 11 more who are about to be released from the Harford County Detention Center are also set to take part in it, Michael Gullion, support services commander at the detention center, told the council.
"Compared to the rest of the state, we are doing well," he said.
Gahler said part of the fight against heroin is "raising awareness."
The Sheriff's Office continues to post the number of overdoses and deaths from the drug on message boards outside its precincts.
Gahler said he hears "there is not a day" that people do not comment on the sign or their personal experience with the heroin epidemic.
"I think we have done a great deal in this community getting the awareness up," he said.
Councilman Patrick Vincenti commended the Sheriff's Office on its leaders' response.
"A spotlight was put on us and you guys couldn't have handled it any better," Vincenti said.
Jon Kelvey of the Baltimore Sun Media Group contributed to this report.