On Wednesday, Dr. Wen spoke before the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC), a forum comprised of representatives across Baltimore City’s criminal justice system, to discuss the city’s response to the opioid epidemic. The CJCC convenes key stakeholders, including judges, attorneys, public defenders, sheriffs, police administration, and state and local government officials to address public safety and related issues that are critical to supporting and improving communities.  

“It is the responsibility of the health department and the criminal justice system to treat addiction as a disease,” Dr. Wen said Wednesday. “Substance abuse ties deeply into the fabric of the criminal justice system, but with a public health approach to opioid prevention, Baltimore can become a model for recovery.”

In one of the most aggressive opioid overdose prevention campaigns across the country, Dr. Wen has taken a number of steps to expand access to the opioid overdose antidote, naloxone to those at-risk of experiencing an opioid overdose in Baltimore City.

Dr. Wen began by reviewing the successes of the naloxone standing order, which she issued last October that allows any resident in Baltimore city to gain access to the opioid overdose antidote. She emphasized to the council that naloxone needs to be in every person’s medicine cabinet. To date more than 12,000 individuals across Baltimore have been trained to use naloxone, including dozens of Baltimore police officers who have saved over 30 lives with the medication.

Additionally, Dr. Wen discussed DontDie.org, a public education campaign launched in coordination with partners to educate the public and providers on the disease of addiction and reduce stigma by empowering communities to work together to prevent addiction and saving lives.

Dr. Wen also commended recent federal policy changes, which will allow doctors to prescribe the medication-assisted treatment buprenorphine to more patients. Though a proven and effective treatment option, there are limits to the number of patients a physician can prescribe buprenorphine. Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expanded the cap on these prescriptions from 100 per year to 275 per year. Dr. Wen mentioned that though these measures are a step in the right direction, she has advocated for the cap to be completely removed because it is based on stigma, not on science.

Dr. Wen then addressed ongoing efforts to open a city owned stabilization center, where people who suffer from opioid addiction can go to seek help, receive medication-assisted treatment, and begin counseling. Nationally, only 11 percent of those who seek for addiction treatment actually receive the care they need. Programs like the stabilization center will divert these patients from emergency rooms and instead connect them with what they need: access to quality, on-demand treatment , while reducing stigma surrounding addiction across communities. Leaders at the council meeting were excited to hear that the project is well underway with the goal of opening a location next year as  soon as a final site is selected and additional operational funding obtained.

Dr. Wen concluded the meeting with naloxone training for all members of the council, showing just how easy it is to learn how to save a life.

She hopes that forging such partnerships will highlight important work being done in the community and serve as a platform for change.