What cities can do with social safety nets and data to reduce opioid deaths (American City & County)

Every 19 minutes someone dies from an opioid overdose, primarily prescribed drugs such as oxycontin and hydrocodone and the illegal drug heroin. A group of professionals in the field and a city mayor spoke about how a data-driven social safety net can save lives during a panel discussion at Smart Cities Week in Washington, D.C.

Budgets and resources are both tight for many cities. And for Evan Behrle, director of addiction treatment for the Baltimore City Health Department, even more so. 

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The number of Baltimore children with lead poisoning fell 19 percent in 2017, even as more children were tested for exposure to the powerful neurotoxin.

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To much fanfare last year, President Donald Trump ordered his administration to declare a public health emergency over the opioid epidemic. “As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue,” Trump said at the time. “It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction.”

When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

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