Public hearings scheduled, public hearings canceled. A new chapter of Baltimore's overdose crisis response has begun, yet officials are already ensnared in political theater that could endanger the city's response to a decadeslong public health catastrophe.
As the suits and ties in City Hall play games, people continue to die.
Councilman Mark Conway announced public hearings on the overdose crisis last week for a second time. They were subsequently canceled on Wednesday in response to pressure from Mayor Brandon Scott — again. It marked the second time the councilman and mayor butted heads over whether to open up public discourse amid ongoing litigation against opioid distributors.
When the first spat between the two occurred back in the summer, harm reductionists' protested at City Hall. I shared their frustration, chalking it up to another example of the city's failure to be transparent.
This time around, I was even more baffled by how events unfolded. It was clear, however, that politics had taken the reins when Conway announced that the hearings would feature other prominent officials who have bad blood with the mayor.
Rather than rally local harm reduction organizations, Conway indicated he planned to hold "street hearings" with State's Attorney Ivan Bates and Sheriff Sam Cogen, both of whom endorsed disgraced former Mayor Sheila Dixon in last year's Democratic primary race.
Politics aside, though, if "hearings" with prosecutors and cops — the same people who are complicit in the murderous, failed drug war — are indicative of how city officials plan to address the crisis, I wouldn't advise drug users and their families to hold their breaths for evidence-based policy reform.
Scott's administration for months has cited the need to protect ongoing litigation against opioid distributors McKesson and Cencora as a reason to shut down hearings. Meanwhile, hundreds of Baltimoreans, mostly older Black men, have died.
Back in July, I wrote:
"While the litigation is important, and officials should be careful as to what they say, their silence makes them complicit in the overdose crisis."
That statement remains true, and I stand by it. However, it seems that, despite the correct assertion that public discourse is imperative to successful policy, that's no longer what this is all about.
Council President Zeke Cohen made the right decision to put an end to the political theater — even if it was in response to pressure from the mayor's administration.
Now is not the time.
Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lawrence P. Fletcher-Hill is expected to soon issue a ruling on the litigation, which hinges on the city's $5.2 billion ask for its opioid abatement plan. The ruling, which could mark the end of a string of lawsuits against opioid distributors and manufacturers, is expected to free officials from the constraints posed by the case.
I've spent months writing about the city's lack of transparency amid an unprecedented overdose crisis, noting that time can't be wasted as so many die. In that sense, criticism is warranted.
Yet politicizing the issue through hearings alongside drug warriors — while excluding people who dedicate their lives to keeping drug users safe — is not the solution. It will simply make things worse.
This all seems a bit chaotic, doesn't it?
The political drama does come with some good news, with Baltimore entering a new chapter in its overdose crisis response. Last week, the mayor announced the city's first executive director of overdose response and 20 members of the city's new Opioid Restitution Advisory Board.
The appointments stem from an executive order last year, in which Scott laid out a roadmap for how the city will spend a windfall of funds from opioid settlements.
Sara Whaley, who has served as Scott's senior public health advisor since last year, has taken over as the executive director. Whaley was also the program director of the Bloomberg Overdose Prevention Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
In addition, Scott names 20 members — 17 voting, 3 nonvoting — to the Opioid Restitution Advisory Board, which will help guide the city's spending of the hundreds of millions of dollars from opioid lawsuits. Its members were sworn in on Thursday.
Among the board members are eight who were selected because of their "lived/living experience" with addiction, drug use and overdose. After attending the swearing-in ceremony and speaking to some of those individuals, I was impressed by the city's renewed efforts to combat the crisis.
The efforts are buttressed by the fact that recently released data shows the city is already seeing progress in driving down overdose deaths. Data from the Maryland Department of Health that went live last week showed Baltimore recorded 680 deaths in 2024, a 35% decrease from the year prior.
The last time Baltimore saw fewer than 700 overdose deaths was in 2016, when 694 deaths were recorded. That year marked the beginning of a massive surge in fatalities, with just 393 overdose deaths recorded in the year prior.
Check out Mobtown Redux's overdose data dashboard for more insight. While you're there, also take a look at my list of harm reduction resources.
Though the numbers are subject to change because they are preliminary, the significance of the decline has prompted both newfound optimism and a recognition that more work must be done.
The city is in an unprecedented position to tackle an unprecedented crisis. The decrease in deaths seen in 2024 was the greatest single-year decline on record.
But none of it will matter if politics get in the way.
The overdose crisis is one of the largest public health catastrophes of our time, and Baltimore has served as its epicenter. Thousands of died in the past decade, and thousands more will die without meaningful, evidence-based reforms.
With such as large sum of money heading to the city's coffers, Baltimore officials could make significant strides to save lives. They could expand access to treatment and medication for opioid use disorder, ramp up harm reduction programs and, perhaps most importantly, open overdose prevention centers, or OPCs.
Some of this may not be easy — maybe none of it will. Still, the question remains: How badly do you want to save lives?
I've been following harm reduction legislation in the General Assembly. Check out the four bills I'm keeping an eye on:
- Senate Bill 83, sponsored by Sen. Shelly Hettleman, D-Baltimore County. This bill would legalize overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in Maryland, allowing for up to six programs statewide. Hearings were held for the bill earlier this month, and it's now awaiting a vote in the Senate Finance Committee. Previous iterations of the bill have repeatedly died in committee over the years.
- House Bill 845, sponsored by Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk, D-Prince George's County, and numerous other delegates. This is the companion bill to Hettleman's legislation. A House Health and Government Operations Committee hearing on the bill will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26.
- Senate Bill 370, sponsored by Sen. Cory McCray, D-Baltimore City. This bill would decriminalize drug paraphernalia statewide. Both chambers passed a different iteration of this legislation in 2021 before it was vetoed by failed U.S. Senate candidate and former Gov. Larry Hogan. Hearings were held for the bill last month, and it's now awaiting a vote in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.
- House Bill 556, sponsored by Del. Karen Simpson, D-Frederick County, and a few other delegates. This is the companion bill to McCray's legislation. A hearing was held on the bill earlier this month, and it's now awaiting a vote in the House Judiciary Committee.
If passed, these bills would undoubtedly aid local jurisdictions such as Baltimore in fighting the overdose crisis. Let's take a look at the most recent numbers:
As noted previously, the latest data shows Baltimore recorded 680 deaths in 2024, a 35% decrease from the year prior. That marked a historic drop in deaths.
More recent data just dropped, too. As you can see in the updated overdose data dashboard, Baltimore saw 650 overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending in January, a death rate of 111 deaths per 100,000 people.
That still dwarfs that of all other Maryland counties, though it indicates Baltimore has continued to follow the decline in deaths seen nationally, including in Maryland.
Deaths in Baltimore were most highly concentrated in the city's Black Butterfly, specifically ZIP codes 21215 and 21217. Those areas saw 93 and 77 deaths, respectively.
If you read my most recent reporting for the Baltimore Beat, you may not be surprised. The data we're seeing now in the city marks the lowest death toll in nearly a decade — but the crisis’s disproportionate impact on Black residents remains a harsh reality.
Black residents comprised 65% of all overdose deaths in 2024, according to the data. Black men specifically accounted for nearly half of all deaths, with those 55 years old or older being at the highest risk.
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