The Baltimore City Health Department is active in Annapolis testifying in support of bills that will advance public health in Baltimore City and across Maryland. Members of our team testified in favor of a House bill that will establish a Drug Cost Review Commission, which would be responsible for setting fair rates for high cost prescription drugs in Maryland and increasing transparency in drug pricing. We also voiced our support for a Senate bill that will require state and local correctional facilities to have written policies in place concerning medical care for pregnant inmates.

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Officials in Philadelphia want residents to carry and use an opioid overdose antidote as part of the city's effort to combat skyrocketing overdoses. Baltimore's health commissioner has waived training requirements for those seeking to acquire the overdose-reversing drug and said any resident could go into a pharmacy and get the medication.

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A paper on overdose-reversal drugs reached a conclusion no one liked. The pushback raised questions about sexism and scientific methods. 

“[Doleac and Mukherjee’s] study assumes that passage of these laws lead immediately to everyone having easy access to naloxone when they need it, when this is not the case,” said Leana Wen, Baltimore’s health commissioner.

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Governors who are anxiously awaiting funding to fight opioid addiction are eyeing $6 billion set aside in the two-year budget deal (PL 115-123) for the epidemic that has yet to be appropriated or divvied up between federal agencies and the states.

“Since the president declared a state of emergency around opioids, we have not seen a tangible effect for those on the ground around the epidemic,” said Leana Wen, the commissioner of health for the city of Baltimore, who said she contacted a number of government officials about this problem.

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