Feature:
Turning
the
Corner
in
Baltimore
6/9/06
For years, Baltimore has been an epicenter of heroin use in the United States, and the crime and public health problems that go along with it. The city's mean street heroin scene was memorialized in "The Corner," the gritty book turned into an HBO series in 2002. The city has also, and not coincidentally, been in the forefront of drug reform, going back to the days of former Mayor Kurt Schmoke, one of the earliest important elected officials in the country to speak out against the harms of drug prohibition, and a pioneer of needle exchange programs. Statistics released Tuesday by city officials suggest that the city is beginning to turn the corner -- thanks in part to a sustained increase in drug treatment availability in the city and a public health approach aimed at taking full advantage of it. Drug overdose deaths are the lowest in a decade and violent crime is decreasing as well, the Health Department reported. All during the 1990s, Baltimore saw more than 300 murders a year, but has failed to crack that mark in the past five years. Similarly, according to Baltimore Public Health Commissioner Josh Sharfstein, fatal overdoses have declined by a third from their 1999 peak of 328, with 218 Baltimore residents dying of drug overdoses last year. Emergency room visits related to cocaine and heroin use have declined by 39% since 1995, while 911 emergency calls for drug overdoses have fallen by 16% in the last three years. That's good news for a long-beleaguered city, and Baltimore officials are crediting increased funding for treatment. Jumpstarted with a $25 million grant from George Soros' Open Society Institute in 1997, the city's drug treatment budget has since more than doubled to nearly $53 million last year. The number of treatment beds has increased by 62% from 5,100 to 8,300, while the number of people receiving drug treatment in publicly funded programs increased from 18,449 in 1997 to 28,672 in 2005. "We had become the most addicted and violent city in America," said Democratic Mayor Martin O'Malley at a Tuesday press conference announcing the treatment and overdose figures. "There is not a doubt in my mind that Baltimore's resurgence... is a result of our making our city a healthy and safer place by investing in public safety and public health." "Substance abuse and addiction treatment is effective at restoring people's lives and restoring the community," said Adam Brickner, president of Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems, a city organization that oversees drug treatment. "Treatment saves lives." "The job here's not finished," said OSI-Baltimore executive director Diana Morris. "The idea of putting this much money in it is to say, 'Look, there are solutions here, and this private money can serve as a catalyst and help other cities get on board and also begin to see the kind of indicators that Baltimore is seeing,'" she said. "My No. 1 hope is that policymakers recognize that this is a very effective way, not only to deal with addiction but also all of the associated problems that it causes." Soros is so impressed by the Baltimore experience that he announced this week his foundation is offering $10 million in grants to cities that seek to emulate its program. The announcement came as part of the run-up to the OSI-sponsored "Cities on the Right Track: Building Public Drug Treatment Systems" conference that took place yesterday. That conference brought together Baltimore Mayor O'Malley, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, and Providence Mayor David Cicilline, as well as key health officials from Baltimore, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, and Seattle. "I want to help eliminate the enormous drug addiction treatment gap in the United States," said Soros in a statement announcing the grant. "That gap has devastating consequences for families throughout the country. I hope this money will help cities and states to advocate effectively for sufficient public funds for drug treatment. Despite the large number of people who suffer from drug addiction, treatment is far from accessible in the United States at present," Soros said. "The sad fact is that the majority of Americans who need treatment do not receive it, even though drug treatment is as effective as treatment for other chronic health disorders." Soros would appear to have the Maryland public on his side, if a new statewide poll is any indication. Commissioned by OSI-Baltimore, the poll found that 67% of Maryland voters thought drug treatment was a better option than prison for drug addicts. The same number reported knowing someone with an alcohol or drug addiction problem. "The good news is that more and more people recognize that treatment does work and believe that more public dollars should support it," Morris. "As a private funder, the Open Society Institute can play a key role in helping to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the treatment system. And we are happy to play that role. But only policymakers can take the next step and direct adequate public resources to treatment. Through this kind of public-private partnership, we can ensure that the thousands of Baltimore and other Maryland residents who need treatment can, in fact, get it."
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