Intersections & Injustice
Ahead of a brutally cold winter, Baltimoreans honor unhoused residents who have died as advocates worry about city’s preparedness for the season
Last year, 20,000 people called the shelter hotline for help, and city officials have confirmed that people had to be turned away.
A case study on Baltimore media's racist portrayal of drug users
The Baltimore Sun has published a series of articles about the city's overdose crisis. Yet a racist narrative is woven into the pieces, continuing a decades-long trend of racist media coverage.
Ivan Bates, a drama-loving drug warrior, must be primaried from the left in 2026
By fanning the flames of the drug war and repeatedly embroiling himself in drama with other elected officials, State's Attorney Ivan Bates has shown himself to be unfit for office.
Councilman, advocates press homeless services director over shelter conditions and housing policies
The agency is operating with just eight outreach workers as more than 2,000 people in Baltimore are unsheltered on any given night, 70% of whom are Black, according to the city’s 2025 Point-in-Time count.
Why does it take a crisis for people in power to step up?
The federal government shutdown has hampered services that are critical to at-risk populations, leading to local officials investing in additional aid for those in need. It shouldn't take a crisis for these things to happen.
Baltimore's attempt to treat drug users with compassion still centers courts and cops
For more than 30 years, judges and elected officials have heralded Drug Court and other diversion programs as a compassionate way to offer drug users quality care rather than incarceration. For some, they’ve failed.
Advocates call for state regulation of homeless shelters after survey emphasizes inhumane conditions
Complaints cited in the survey included infestations of bedbugs, cockroaches, mice, and rats. There were also reports of brown-colored water coming from showers, toilets and faucets, as well as expired or moldy food and a lack of wheelchair accessibility.
A deeper look into Baltimore's crackdown on its most vulnerable residents
As long as the city disregards the livelihoods of vulnerable residents while fueling drug-war policing and encampment sweeps, death will be the one constant in their communities. And that is unacceptable.
Harm reduction or drug war? Baltimore wants to have it both ways
Baltimore is reckoning with an unprecedented overdose crisis, but its leaders have failed to embrace harm reduction instead of punitive drug policy. Its reliance on drug-war policing is a recipe for disaster.
Baltimore Overdose-Crisis Meeting Hosts Plan to Arrest More Drug Users
The strategy depicted by BPD's top brass runs contrary to a consensus among public health experts and harm reduction advocates. For decades, they've warned that targeting drug users is futile and potentially deadly.
‘It’s easier out here’: Despite extreme temperatures, unhoused Baltimoreans often seek comfort, familiarity in anything but a shelter
The story of being unsheltered in Baltimore is one largely rooted in trauma and the government’s failure to protect its most vulnerable.