The scale of America’s opioid epidemic is shocking.

It is the deadliest drug overdose crisis in US history. In 2016 alone, drug overdoses likely killed more Americans in one year than the entire Vietnam War. In 2015, drug overdoses topped annual deaths from car crashes, gun violence, and even HIV/AIDS during that epidemic’s peak in 1995. In total, more than 140 people are estimated to die from drug overdoses every day in the US. About two-thirds of these drug overdose deaths are linked to opioids.

Yet so far, there’s been a lack of policy action to end the opioid epidemic. Much of what has been done has focused on reducing the amount of prescription painkillers out there, yet the latest federal data shows prescriptions were still three times what they were in 1999. Other prevention efforts have focused on stopping heroin and fentanyl from entering the US, but they have so far failed to make a dent in the flow of these drugs.

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A commission created by President Donald Trump has asked him to declare a state of emergency over the nation’s opioid epidemic.

The recommendation, from a preliminary draft of the opioid commission’s report, comes in the midst of grueling statistics linked to the epidemic. In 2016 alone, drug overdoses likely killed more Americans in one year than the entire Vietnam War. In 2015, drug overdoses topped annual deaths from car crashes, gun violence, and even HIV/AIDS during that epidemic’s peak in 1995.

“With approximately 142 Americans dying every day, America is enduring a death toll equal to September 11th every three weeks,” the report argues. “After September 11th, our President and our nation banded together to use every tool at our disposal to prevent any further American deaths. Your declaration would empower your cabinet to take bold steps and would force Congress to focus on funding and empowering the Executive Branch even further to deal with this loss of life.”

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The November 2016 U.S. elections resulted in a Republican sweep of the Presidency and both chambers of Congress. Republicans’ first major policy priority has been to “repeal and replace” the Obama Administration’s effort to reform healthcare, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed into law in 2010. To date, a key component of proposed legislation from both the House and Senate has been severe cuts to Medicaid, which currently provides the lion’s share of health insurance for low-income Americans.

These legislative proposals have been introduced at a time when the U.S. is experiencing an epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose. In 2015, there were more than 2.6 million Americans with opioid use disorder (OUD) [1]. During the same year, more than 33,000 died of overdoses involving one or more opioids, corresponding to an age-adjusted opioid-related death rate of 10.4 per 100,000 [2]—more than triple the rate in 2000 [3]. The U.S. now accounts for about a quarter of the world’s drug-related deaths [4].

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The Atlantic, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Aspen Institute will host CityLab Baltimore, a half-day “pop-up” summit exploring the key challenges and opportunities faced by American cities today, from public health to cultural investment. The event, which is part of an ongoing partnership, will take place on Wednesday, August 2, from 2-5pm ET at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Parkway Theater in Baltimore (5 West North Avenue). Baltimore itself provides the central backdrop for CityLab, which will include a series of conversations about the future of the city— while offering lessons for other urban leaders facing similar issues in their own communities. Topic areas across the afternoon will include strategies urban leaders can use for reducing blight; public health and heroin addiction in cities; and the role of culture as an engine for urban regeneration.

Former New York City mayor and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies Michael R. Bloomberg and Johns Hopkins University president Ron Daniels will give opening remarks at the event. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh will join the program for a conversation on Baltimore’s changing urban landscape and how the city can promote equitable growth. Additional speakers include:

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