Pilot program focuses on areas hardest hit by heroin addiction
Media Advisory
Evan Serpick, Open Society Institute
410.234.1091
This week, 500 Baltimore police officers will be equipped with the life-saving drug Naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses upon ingestion. The cost of the drug was covered by a Open Society Institute grant to Behavioral Health Systems of Baltimore (www.bhsbaltimore.org). The pilot program focuses on three areas of Baltimore hardest hit by the recent spike in opioid overdoses, with an eye toward expanding the program citywide.
OSI-Baltimore staff led an effort to bring together officials from Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention, Behavioral Health Systems Baltimore and the Baltimore City Police to conceptualize the pilot program.
Today, Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen visited a training session with BPD officers (pictured).
