Two years ago, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., helped organize a roundtable discussion regarding the growing opioid epidemic in Maryland and throughout the United States, bringing health care professionals, law enforcement and nonprofit organizations together to share ideas on what has and has not worked in putting a dent in the crisis. In Baltimore City, Health Department Senior Advisor Dr. Shelly Choo said more than 35,000 residents had been naloxone trained, saving 1,500 lives. Choo said the city is using a three-pillar approach to combating the epidemic. 

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The Health Department’s Chronic Disease Prevention team operates the Community Asthma Program (CAP), an intervention strategy aimed at reducing the number of children and youth in Baltimore between the ages of 2 and 18 who have trouble controlling their asthma. Through CAP, community health workers offer asthma education and visit the homes of young asthma patients.

In July, the Department of Health and Human Services mailed notices to 81 schools, public health departments and community centers that received funding through the program with an update: The grants were being cancelled, and the program, which has had an annual cost of $101 million in recent years, would be shuttered in a matter of months.

“It made no sense,” said Dr. Leana Wen, commissioner for Baltimore City Health Department. “Congress appropriated the funding that was available.”

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A handful of cities could soon face a legal showdown with the Trump administration over their efforts to open “supervised injection facilities” where drug addicts can shoot up with powerful illegal drugs while trained personnel stand by to prevent fatal overdoses.

“We cannot take an action that would jeopardize our federal funding,” Wen’s statement said. “We require guidance from the Department of Justice about the legality of these sites.”

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