Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott is correct when he observes that the way that we have been dealing with addiction in Baltimore is wrong (“Safe place to shoot up? Some say Baltimore needs supervised sites for drug use. Others say that’s insane,” Jan. 24). In 2018, the latest year with published data, Baltimore reported 888 drug overdose deaths. Baltimore is not alone. In the United States, we had over 70,000 drug overdose deaths. In contrast, the European Union, which has 150 million more citizens than the U.S., saw under 10,000 drug overdose deaths in 2018. What the E.U., Australia and Canada all do better than the U.S. is accept the reality that drug use is part of the human condition and focus on reducing harm associated with drug use.
The first step is to end the drug war by eliminating arrests of low-level drug dealing and drug possession and focus on improving the health of all Baltimoreans including those who inject drugs. Baltimore and many other cities already benefit from interventions such as needle exchange programs that work to reduce transmission of viruses such as HIV and Hepatitis C. Providing individuals who will inject drugs with clean needles works to promote health and increase public safety. Providing a clean location, staffed with health care providers and other social services is an obvious next step.
After millions of injections in safe consumption facilities across three continents, we know that these programs save lives, reduce drug related harm and increase public safety.
Jay Unick, MSW PhD, Baltimore
The writer is an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work.
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