"As heroin overdoses surge in Baltimore, the price of the antidote skyrocket" (WMAR) July 13, 2015
In 2014 there were more drug and alcohol overdose deaths in Baltimore than people killed on the streets. Heroin was responsible for 63% of those. To make matters worse, the lifesaving antidote for opioid overdoses has more than doubled. Now, local leaders are taking action. A Baltimore task force taking on heroin was looking for a new approach to an old problem, and after 9 months, the group has a list of recommendations to battle the epidemic. Part of the plan includes getting the overdose antidote naloxone out to the people who need it. "I have given it to literally hundreds of patients and watched as someone who stopped breathing walk and talk again within seconds,” said Baltimore City Health Commissioner, Dr. Leana Wen. “We have to get naloxone into the hands of every person who can save a life."