Baltimore treatment program prioritizes saving lives
BALTIMORE — Anthony Kelly trudged through southwest Baltimore, each labored footstep a reminder of the roofing accident that left him with chronic pain and a raging opioid addiction several years after he returned home from serving in the Marines.
Doctors used metal plates to reconstruct his lower legs and Mr. Kelly spent months learning to walk again. So began his plodding journey into the depths of substance use disorder, a downward spiral that would gradually weaken his body and consume his mind.
After his prescribed painkillers ran out, Mr. Kelly turned to a combination of heroin and cocaine that sometimes cost $500 per day.
More than a decade later, his substance use is more manageable and less expensive, though it remains a controlling force in his life. He takes buprenorphine, a prescription medication that’s considered the gold standard for treating opioid addiction by reducing cravings and easing withdrawal symptoms.
He gets the medication through a mobile health clinic housed in a retrofitted van, which parks in some of Baltimore’s most drug-ravaged communities, including Mr. Kelly’s neighborhood. Doctors and nurses meet with patients, write prescriptions and provide basic wound care, hepatitis C treatment, packages of the overdose reversal agent naloxone and more, all free of charge.
The clinic exemplifies an ongoing shift in the nation’s approach to stemming overdose deaths, which surged during the pandemic to unprecedented heights as the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl replaced heroin in drug markets across the country. The so-called harm reduction model, which has received endorsement and funding from the Biden administration, offers potentially life-saving services to opioid users, without requiring abstinence in return.
Advocates say it acknowledges the importance of keeping people alive, first and foremost, while they confront the sometimes insurmountable challenges associated with recovery. Critics argue it enables illegal activity.
In Baltimore’s “Healthcare on the Spot” program, most patients continue using street drugs, but the vast majority report using less, according to clinic staff.
“Being an addict, it’s more complicated than people think,” said Mr. Kelly, 49. “We built this web we’re entangled in. We didn’t get here overnight and we’re not gonna get better overnight. You can’t just snap out of it.”
Baltimore’s overdose death rate is significantly higher than the statewide and nationwide averages, with more than 1,000 lives lost in 2020, the most recent data available.