33-year-old doctor leads Baltimore's anti-heroin war (Cincinati Enquirer)
Wednesday Oct 12th, 2016
The second in a four-part series.
BALTIMORE - Dr. Leana Wen is famous among addiction experts across the nation for taking the helm against heroin.
"Nobody wants to be an addict," she says flatly.
The Baltimore health commissioner has an estimated 19,000 residents addicted to heroin in her city of 620,000. This city knows its numbers, figured by an epidemiologist, so that it can better understand and react to the heroin threat.
She's known nationally for her efforts to fight the heroin crisis in her city. "You need a commitment from public health leadership to prioritize this," said Daniel Raymond, policy director for the national Harm Reduction Coalition in New York City.
Wen, 33, who was appointed Baltimore health commissioner in January 2015, says that anyone who sees addiction as a moral failing is wrong. "Science is clear that addiction is a brain disease," she said.