Despite Trump promises, White House falling short in opioid fight (CBS News)

Monday Jul 17th, 2017

BALTIMORE -- As Republicans in Congress and the Trump White House continue to craft a health care bill 30 miles to the south, two people overdose on opioids and die every day in Maryland's largest city.

On a street corner in west Baltimore, the extent of the opioid epidemic that has ravaged large swaths of the country was in stark relief Wednesday against the backdrop of a brick wall emblazoned with the words "No Shoot Zone" in spray paint.

In 95-degree heat, men and women of all ages -- black and white -- filed one by one into a white van and dumped out bundles of used needles. Workers with the Baltimore City Health Department handed out brown paper bags containing clean syringes, cookers, filters and rubber bands in exchange. Those who came to turn in their old equipment were users of heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil, a toxic synthetic opioid.

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