At first glance, Baltimore entered 2026 on a winning streak. The city saw its historic decline in violent crime continue, and fatal overdoses plummeted once again to a 10-year low.
Yet the data was soon met with a hefty dose of reality. A bone-chilling cold snap gave way to a debilitating and dangerous winter storm, blanketing the city with snow and cooling the sense of burning optimism projected by those who hold power. For the most vulnerable residents and those who fight for their livelihoods, the progress boasted in press releases and social media posts didn't jibe with what drug users and unhoused neighbors are actually experiencing in the streets.
The storm and the sub-zero windchills that lingered demonstrated that the pictures of progress painted by those in power have been weaponized to retain power at the expense of those who have none.
"These are the days that the most vulnerable of us die because of the weather," said James Crawford Jr., a seasoned advocate for unhoused residents and a member of the advocacy group Housing Our Neighbors.
Not all drug users are unhoused, and not all unhoused people are drug users. Although a whopping 77% of unhoused residents reported being addicted to a substance last year, the groups are more united by the fact that they are heavily stigmatized and at increased risk of death during the winter.
With a severe lack of shelter beds and a dearth of outreach workers, the city’s unhoused residents face high risks of hypothermia, frostbite, and death. For drug users, studies have shown that cold snaps like Baltimore just experienced can increase the likelihood of fatal overdoses by 30%.
Local data — at least that is made public — on these matters is extremely limited. A Public Information Act request by Mobtown Redux seeking monthly fatal overdoses over the past decade was nearly completely redacted, and the publication is currently awaiting a response to monthly death data for unhoused residents.
The data that is available, however, makes one thing clear: Far too many have died from preventable deaths.
Logan Hullinger
Since 2015, the state has recorded nearly 900 deaths among those experiencing homelessness in Baltimore, 47 of whom died from hypothermia, according to state health department data obtained by Mobtown Redux. That is likely a significant undercount, as those are only deaths the department has confirmed, and local law enforcement is responsible for determining who is deemed homeless.
In that same time frame, more than 9,000 Baltimoreans have died of overdoses, with older Black men dying at more than twice the rate of white men at certain points in time.
In 2025, there were 568 overdose deaths in Baltimore, marking a historic 27% decrease from the year prior, according to preliminary data from the Maryland Department of Health. It was the second consecutive year Baltimore saw such a drop, mirroring a nationwide trend that calls into question any assertions that Baltimore-specific policies are driving the decline.
However, the disproportionate impact on poor Black communities, particularly in West Baltimore, has remained steady.
“While this data is preliminary, the reduction in overdoses that we’re seeing is further proof that harm reduction works," Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement.
"This progress is what happens when everyone, from the Baltimore City Health Department, to first responders, our partners, and the community, works together to save lives. But there’s more to do; any life lost to an overdose is one too many."
Scott's right to say the city could do more, but he did not acknowledge what the city is actively doing wrong. His office did not respond to questions about the city's repeated willingness to sign blank checks for a police department that openly targets drug users for arrest and has ramped up drug enforcement.
While the mayor hasn't yet unveiled his budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the city's priorities were made crystal clear in last year's fiscal plan, which cut the health department's budget while boosting the police budget to a monumental $613 million.
Logan Hullinger
These misinvestments are an affront to a widespread consensus about overdose prevention. Studies have shown that drug-war policing, such as what the BPD is conducting, can increase overdose death rates and increase violence.
Gov. Wes Moore seems to have followed suit. He has touted record drops in fatal overdoses and recently released a budget proposal calling for a modest 6% increase to the Behavioral Health Administration. But the plan also includes record funding for law enforcement, and its release came as the state purged the words "harm reduction" from its lexicon and advocates anticipate possible cuts to the state's leading harm reduction grant program for local organizations.
"At a time when Maryland is moving in the right direction, the federal government is threatening to put funding for these proven programs at risk," Moore said in a statement. "We have more work to do—but by working together and continuing smart investments, we will keep fighting for those seeking recovery," Moore said in a statement.
Aside from the governor's Freudian slip about those who seek abstinence being the ones worth saving, a more prominent theme is that those in power are following a drug-war playbook that fuels police crackdowns and nullifies any claim that public health is a priority. Just as the winters have grown increasingly cold, those in power have increasingly handed the arms of the state more money.
The "tough on crime" game works to uphold an image of strength to some voters, while taking credit for nationwide trends helps portray a caring leader. In tandem, these factors comprise a strategy that maintains the status quo and the leaders who uphold it, as those most impacted demand reforms.
So it wasn't surprising when the governor praised State's Attorney Ivan Bates — who reversed his predecessor's de facto decriminalization policy — and the city's historically corrupt police force in an X post about declining fatal overdose rates.
Nor was it surprising when Baltimore enlisted police officers to sweep unhoused residents off the street — even if they refuse services — and connect them with other city agencies during the recent storm. With the high rates of mental illness among the city's unhoused population, the only surprise is that no one ended up dead, like the three Black people who officers shot or restrained this past summer.
The needs of Baltimoreans who are unhoused, use drugs or are in crisis have been discarded in pursuit of bolstering the police state and allowing the cancer to fester. The brazen disregard of calls for social reforms, replaced with seemingly unlimited funding for the police force, is what Baltimore deems "public safety."
The most vulnerable of our neighbors have witnessed those public safety strategies become de facto public executions.
A logical next step would be to reallocate the bloated police budget to ramp up the city's harm reduction infrastructure; create community-led crisis response teams to replace cops; expand shelter capacity and slap them with oversight; and build affordable housing that does not discriminate based on factors such as drug use.
Those reforms, however, often seem unattainable. The lack of progress toward these goals can make things feel hopeless. But this is no time to bend the knee and succumb to nihilistic thought.
The winter storm demonstrated that Baltimore can seemingly come to a halt when met with a powerful enough force. Coordinated campaigns, organizing en masse and relentless pressure can do the same. It may take some time, but advocates must turn up the heat to relentlessly push those in power to do better — or push them out of office entirely.
Read the last Redux Newsletter: "Hysteria and harm reduction: What the hell is going on?"
To support harm reduction or not to support harm reduction, that is the question. And the livelihoods of those who use drugs hang in the balance as it echoes throughout Baltimore, the state of Maryland and the United States.
Fear and uncertainty about the future of compassionate care for drug users came to a head after the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration on Tuesday announced it would slash nearly $2 billion in grant funding for organizations providing mental health and substance use services. The agency insisted the programs didn't align with the agenda of President Donald Trump's administration, fomenting widespread fears that nonprofits in Baltimore and beyond would no longer be able to provide services responsible for keeping their vulnerable neighbors alive.
Then, after bipartisan backlash, the Trump administration reversed the decision the next day.
Read the full newsletter here.
Mobtown Redux's Overdose Data has been updated with the latest local, state and national data
There were 568 overdose deaths in Baltimore in 2025, marking a historic 27% decrease from the year prior, according to preliminary data from the Maryland Department of Health.
That death toll will likely change as causes of death are finalized, but the decline mirrors the downward trend seen nationally. This was the second consecutive year that Baltimore saw a notable decrease in deaths; there were 777 deaths — a 25.5% decrease from the year prior — in 2024.
The numbers indicate that the city's fatal overdose rate continues to trend downward after years of climbing, with the death toll twice surpassing 1,000 people.
However, the preliminary data also shows that low-income Black neighborhoods in West Baltimore continue to see the highest death rates. Those same neighborhoods are also the most heavily policed, with residents significantly more likely to be arrested on drug charges,
Check out Mobtown Redux's Overdose Data Dashboard here.
Click here to learn more about harm reduction resources in the Baltimore area.
Filter: "DULF Challenge: Health Canada Official Flounders on the Stand"
A senior Canadian bureaucrat struggled on the witness stand to reconcile past statements by the federal government with its claim in court that it was not completely closed off to the idea of a non-medical safe supply model.
The January 26 hearing was for a constitutional challenge to the criminal convictions of Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) co-founders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum, for operating an unsanctioned Vancouver compassion club selling tested heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine to 47 members.
Eric Costen, who has held various senior roles with Health Canada, didn’t willingly attend—he had to be subpoenaed to appear.
Click here to read the full article.
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