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Could Safe Injection Sites Work In Baltimore?

Will De Freitas/Flickr

Every month close to 200 people in Maryland die from a drug overdose--mostly the opioid fentanyl. The toll is especially stubborn in Baltimore. The Abell Foundation commissioned Natanya Robinowitz, executive director of Charm City Care Connection, to probe what Baltimore can learn from how Barcelona, Spain, combats addiction--a comprehensive network of care, including spaces where people can use illicit drugs under medical monitoring. She's joined by Aura Ruig , founder and leader of Metzineres, a women-only harm reduction center in Barcelona for women who use drugs and who have survived violence. Plus, Nina Feldman, health reporter for WHYY, tells us how the first safe-injection site in the U.S. may open in Philadelphia.

To view Robinowitz's Abell Foundation report, visit this link.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'