Congressional officials, Baltimore leaders talk opioids at Health Care for the Homeless (Health Care for the Homeless)

That stat surfaced during a roundtable discussion and C-SPAN live broadcast with congressional officials, Baltimore leaders and community members at our downtown clinic on Friday, July 27.

We were honored to welcome Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Elijah Cummings, Senator Ben Cardin, Congressman John Sarbanes, Mayor Catherine Pugh, Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen and many others to tour our facility and discuss the state of our nation’s opioid epidemic.

“There is no question that we are at a state of emergency, at a public health crisis, here in Baltimore,” said Dr. Wen during opening remarks of the roundtable.

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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.

Statewide, the number of Maryland children found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood held steady even as the number of children tested increased by 10 percent, according to a Maryland Department of the Environment report released Tuesday.

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Trump declared an emergency over opioids. A new report finds it led to very little. (Vox)

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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