Mayor Catherine E. Pugh announced plans Wednesday to reorganize Baltimore's housing and economic development agencies and reiterated her intention to fire the housing commissioner.

The new mayor said she wants to broaden the role of the Baltimore Development Corp. and split the housing agency into two departments. She said both actions are aimed at directing investment to all corners of the city.

"We are reviewing how we will operate economically," Pugh said. "Who is going to be responsible for bringing manufacturing back to the city? … Who is going to be responsible for making sure economic development goes on in every part of our city? What do we need to do to be a force to be reckoned with?"

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On Wednesday, Dr. Wen joined Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Michael Botticelli, National Association of County and City Health Officials Executive Director Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, as well as leaders and advocates from across the country for the final event in the White House's Making Healthcare Better Series on Substance Use Disorder.

“It was an honor to be in the company of so many federal, state, and local leaders who are ensuring that substance use disorders are treated with the same compassion and urgency as other diseases,” Dr. Wen said. “Now is the time to make our voices heard, to make sure that the next administration builds on the progress made. We must continue with science-based approaches to affirm that addiction is a disease; treatment exists; and regarding it as a moral failing is unethical and inhumane.”

Dr. Wen shared progress made in Baltimore to eliminate stigma and save lives from overdose. Last year, she issued a standing order to give all Baltimore City residents access to naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication. Since then, nearly 17,000 residents have been trained and have saved the lives of 531 Baltimoreans.

In January, Congress lifted a decades-long ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs and clinics. Since then, the number of programs has skyrocketed, driven in large part by the opioid epidemic. Programs have popped up in states that might never have considered them -- or might even have actively opposed them -- only 10 years ago. “Kentucky has gone from zero to 11 programs,” says Daniel Raymond, policy director at the Harm Reduction Coalition. “Florida authorized a program in Miami -- and we thought they would never have one.”

The goal of needle exchanges, in which drug users hand in their used syringes for new sterile ones, is to reduce the number of infections from diseases like HIV and hepatitis -- illnesses that are transmitted through the sharing of contaminated needles.