The bad news behind Baltimore’s remarkable decline in drug overdose deaths
The number of fatal overdoses have fallen by nearly half in the city and across the state. But why?
Just 14 years old when an uncle introduced him to OxyContin, Brandon Powell was sleeping in an alley in Baltimore’s Little Italy by age 30 and had turned to more powerful drugs. He supported a fentanyl habit by selling stolen diapers and Monster Energy drinks.
By then, the drugs had stopped giving him a high, or even any relief from debilitating withdrawal. The substances dealers were putting into their supply were so weak it felt “literally like shooting water,” he said.
This was in late 2023, as the United States was starting to see a major shift in its drug overdose crisis. The number of people dying had finally begun to fall, and the sharp decline has been especially dramatic in Baltimore.
For more than a half-decade, overdose deaths had claimed about 1,000 lives a year in the city, earning it the tragic distinction of being home to the worst overdose crisis in American history. But since 2023, the number of fatal overdoses has fallen by nearly half in the city and across the state, according to recently released data by the Maryland Department of Health. The sudden shift in what seemed an intractable problem has unearthed hope, as well as a host of questions.
Most of all: Why?