Earlier this month, Mayor Cherelle Parker announced her administration’s plan to end the Kensington neighborhood’s open-air drug markets by arresting people for low-level offenses that the city hadn’t targeted in years.
The state’s jail population increased 60 percent from 2000 to 2019, more than five times the state’s overall population growth, resulting in overcrowding and understaffing. The fallout can be deadly.
Last spring, a majority of lawmakers approved removing some supplies from the list of banned drug equipment but it wasn’t a large enough margin to overturn the veto from Gov. Hogan. Efforts to overturn the veto continue.
The state’s experiment with decriminalizing hard drugs has connected few people with treatment options. But officials urge patience for results as COVID-19 may have impacted participation so far.
State and local governments should devote a substantial share of the billions in opioid settlement funds to get victims of the epidemic housed in settings where they can get the help they need to recover.
We’ve tried taxing drinkers, smokers and soda-guzzlers. Sometimes it helps, improving the public’s health, even if it doesn’t produce a lot of revenue. But it still raises equity and moral issues.
A $26 billion pharmaceutical settlement would resolve lawsuits by the state attorney general, counties and city governments across the state. But some officials don’t agree with the terms of the settlement and aren’t signing on.
Billions of dollars will be flowing to states and localities from opioid lawsuit settlements and court rulings. They need to set up a framework for dedicating the money to programs that save lives.
There are too many barriers to making medications that have been proved to help manage the disease available in residential treatment facilities. States should move to require the medications people need.
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