Baltimore council hearing spotlights harm reduction, naloxone and buprenorphine access as city frames overdose strategy

Baltimore City Councilman Mark Conway (Chair, Public Safety Committee) opened a July 22 hearing on LO 25-0013, calling for city agencies and community partners to coordinate a public-health response to opioid use and rising overdoses.

"Folks this has been I think a hearing a long time in coming," Conway said, noting recent multi-person overdose events in Penn North and the prevalence of overdoses occurring in private residences. The hearing brought health department staff, the mayor's Office of Overdose Response, Baltimore Police Department (BPD), Baltimore City Fire/EMS, Johns Hopkins experts, harm reduction groups and treatment providers to discuss data, service gaps and practical responses.

The hearing focused on five priority areas in the city's draft overdose response strategic plan: addressing inequities, dismantling siloes and improving connections, confronting stigma, increasing access to low-barrier services and improving service quality. Sarah Whaley, executive director of the Mayor's Office of Overdose Response, said the plan grew from a needs assessment and will guide allocation of opioid restitution funds under a mayoral executive order.

Officials and clinicians outlined current harm reduction and treatment activity. Candy Kerr of Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition summarized local programs: eight authorized syringe service programs, several drop-in centers and approximately 42 overdose response programs that distribute naloxone (numbers given by Kerr). Jennifer Martin, deputy commissioner for Population Health at the Baltimore City Health Department, reported the department distributed more than 131,000 naloxone doses since 2015 and trained over 40,000 people; the department distributed 13,002 naloxone kits in 2023'24 and operates a Health Care on the SPOT mobile buprenorphine program.

Johns Hopkins clinicians described clinical perspectives. Dr. Megan Buresh, an addiction medicine and primary care physician at Johns Hopkins Bayview, stressed that "we have the tools" to prevent deaths and called for drug checking, timely data and drug-user-centered care. Dr. Michael Fingerhut and other Hopkins presenters described community-based low-threshold buprenorphine programs and mobile outreach (the BHLIP/B-Care van and the SPOT van) that link people to ongoing medical and social support.

Fire Department Assistant Chief James Matz described the fire department's Population Health initiative: EMS and outreach teams have contact with hundreds of people, left naloxone and fentanyl/xylazine test strips, distributed food and supplies, and helped refer people into longer-term care. Matz said the department has left tens of thousands of naloxone doses in the community (33,000 doses cited across program years) and that roughly half of overdose-related 911 incidents end in hospital transport while the other half result in patient refusal.

Police officials said officers carry naloxone and participate in cross-agency working groups. Deputy Commissioner Kevin Jones said BPD documented more than 2,200 overdose incidents from January 2024 through mid-July 2025, including both fatal and nonfatal events. Major Arnold Jenkins described BPD's recent "backpacking" outreach in Penn North with health department staff and the department's participation in place-based working groups (Lexington Market and other localized responses).

Panelists and council members pressed several themes: expand low-barrier treatment and peer services, improve data sharing across EMS/hospitals/behavioral health providers, scale wound care and transitional placements for people leaving hospitals, and coordinate enforcement strategies that do not drive people away from care. Council members asked for clearer measures of untreated opioid use disorder; Martin said a previously used figure was about 25,000 people but that estimates are uncertain and the health department is reviewing modeling options.

Conway closed noting a second committee hearing scheduled for September focused on the city's draft strategic plan and encouraged public comment via the Health Department's opioid restitution fund landing page. No formal motion or vote was recorded at the hearing; the event functioned as a policy briefing and stakeholder briefing to inform the strategic plan and funding priorities.

Ending: Council leadership said the committee will reconvene in September to examine the draft plan and funding recommendations and to request follow-up materials on data interoperability, estimates of untreated substance use disorder and a cross-agency approach to open-air drug markets.