Next week, people who have worked in Overdose Prevention Sites in Vancouver and Barcelona are coming to Maryland to talk about their experiences and to encourage local lawmakers, who came to Annapolis for the opening of the 2020 legislative session this week, to consider opening such sites in Maryland.
Beverly Lightfoot and Russell Maynard, who worked at Vancouver’s InSite – the first Overdose Prevention Site in North America, and Aura Roig from Barcelona’s Metzineres, will speak at a forum on Overdose Prevention Sites in Baltimore County and Beyond at Community College of Baltimore County, Dundalk, on Wednesday, January 15th from 6 to 8pm. Email OSI’s Michael Camlin to RSVP.
The visitors are also expected to meet with local advocates and legislators, who are expected to consider a bill clearing the way to open Overdose Prevention Sites, where people can use drugs under medical supervision and access treatment and referral to services, in Maryland during the 2020 session. The Bridges Coalition and Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition, both OSI-Baltimore grantees, will host a breakfast for legislators next Tuesday to talk about Overdose Prevention Sites and display a pop-up facility.
