Latino youth in Montgomery County are struggling with substance abuse and where to find help, according to a report released Thursday by the University of Maryland School of Public Health in collaboration with Gaithersburg-based Identity Inc.
The report found that Latino youth and their families in the county are eager for more education, prevention and intervention services, especially programs that are culturally and linguistically appropriate.
“If we do not act, it is not just substance abuse issues, but educational issues, economic development issues,” said Diego Uriburu, the executive director of Identity, a nonprofit that offers programs and services to the Latino community and serves thousands of families in the county each year. “We’re talking about big numbers of young people, the next generation of county leaders that may not be.”
In November 2023, a report from the County Council found that 42% of opioid overdose-related ER visits in the county were Latino youths, the largest percentage of any other racial or ethnic demographic, the report stated. In 2023, there were 99 fatal overdoses in the county, according to a County Council press release which did not state what percentage of the deaths were Latino youths.
Some Latino parents have also been at the forefront of the passing of legislation at the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis that calls for tougher punishment for fentanyl and heroin dealers. In March, two mothers who had lost their teenage children to fentanyl joined County Councilmember Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6) in Annapolis to advocate for the legislation that ultimately did not pass.
Fani-González told MoCo360 that in March 2023 she had a meeting with Latino parents that opened her eyes to “how desperate people were” and how language and immigration status are barriers for many in seeking out treatment.
“They are facing a crisis. And I think we tend to forget that this pandemic, people think it’s gone, but the impact that the pandemic has done on our children is still there,” Fani-González said. “We are not out of this and this is why we need to invest more in mental health programs and recreational programs for kids.”
Uriburu said that one of his biggest concerns for Latino youths in the county is social isolation and its impacts on their mental health. He said that the young people he works with often cite a lack of recreation programs or access to extracurricular school activities.
The report stems from an assessment of 54 young people, including middle school, high school and GED students; 48 parents; and five educators who were surveyed in a series of focus groups. The sample reflected those who had recently immigrated from Latin America as well as more established families, the report states. From August to November 2023, 15 focus groups facilitated by Identity were held and a set of recommendations were developed in response to what the groups discussed.
Amy Lewin, an associate professor in the Department of Family Science at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, co-authored the report and said that she has worked with Identity for eight years on projects and research. She said that Identity approached her last year after the nonprofit saw an urgency to better understand the issue and the needs of the Latino community they serve.
According to the report, middle and high school students said that they had been exposed to people using and selling alcohol and drugs such as cannabis in their schools (particularly in the bathrooms), neighborhoods and public places such as Metro stations and bus stops. The students reported that they had many questions about drugs but did not have access to a trusted source of information and felt worried about bullying and peer pressure to use drugs and alcohol.
The report also found that the county’s Latino youths face unique stressors and adversities and often feel lonely, anxious, stressed, depressed and disconnected from their peers. They cited one way to feel a connection and gain information comes from social media.
Latino parents and educators who were involved in the research offered their perspective, one that is deeply concerned about substance use and how to protect children.
According to the report, parents felt comfortable talking with their children about substances but did not know how to have the conversations in constructive ways. Oftentimes parents use fear tactics as a tool to dissuade their child from using drugs such as threats of punishment, telling their children “You’ll end up in the hospital, cemetery or jail,” or that drugs cause cancer, homelessness or organ failure, according to the report.
Parents also expressed frustration with schools around the issue, perceiving the schools as not providing adequate monitoring of school bathrooms, interventions or consequences for students who are caught using drugs, the report stated. However, parents also recognized that school suspension was not a useful consequence for substance use and argued for schools to mandate meetings with counselors for students caught using drugs.
The report also showed that parents desired to work in closer partnership with schools on the issue of substance use prevention and “contribute to the development and implementation of solutions.”
Lewin, a clinical psychologist, said that working with parents and caregivers is an “underutilized piece of substance abuse prevention.”
“We have this stereotype that teenagers don’t really care about their parents anymore, they turn to their friends instead, but research has shown time and time again that while it is true that young people become more invested in the opinions and the experiences they have with their peers, they still very much value and pay attention to things that their parents teach them and tell them,” Lewin said.
Lewin agreed that the school system could work more closely with parents in culturally and linguistically appropriate ways “to be the support that their children are actually looking for.”
Rolando Santiago, the chief of Behavioral Health and Crisis Services for the county’s Department of Health and Human Services, said that he was grateful for the report from Identity and the University of Maryland and saw that the report would help the county in its current emergency response to the issue.
Santiago explained that the county is working with Identity on providing an emergency response in the Aspen Hill, Glenmont and Wheaton areas of the county, where there is a high proportion of Latino and Hispanic residents. He said that the response began in mid-February and involves Identity staff engaging with youths and their families and helping them find resources and treatment.
“They’re connecting with the youth on the street and places where they’re congregating to use these dangerous substances,” Santiago said. “And this is maybe one of the most important elements of the engagement, that one of the purposes is to engage them in treatment when the youth is ready and willing.”
Since the start of the program, Identity staff have connected with at least 30 youths, some of whom have been referred to the nonprofit by area schools, and three have willingly decided to get treatment, Santiago said.
The current program is being piloted with the hopes of expanding to other areas of the county, according to Santiago.
Another challenge that the county is working on is that Latino youths who are newcomers to the United States may not know where to get help or are afraid that they will be turned away due to their immigration status.
“Montgomery County is very good at providing services no matter what your immigration status is,” Santiago said, noting that the county’s outreach is also focused on engaging with youth to let them know that it’s safe to use services.
Santiago also said that the county is working with the state to bring a youth treatment facility to the state that would provide inpatient residential services.
“We do not have in the entire state of Maryland a facility that provides inpatient residential care for youth with substance use challenges, and [a facility] that accepts Medicaid,” Santiago said, noting that there are some private providers in D.C. and Maryland and a youth facility in Delaware.
Santiago said that county and state officials have been “working feverishly” over the last few months to open the facility. “We hope that within the next six months, this can be opened. I don’t think a week passes or a day passes, that we’re not working on the intricacies of the contracting process and the funding process,” he said.