A prominent mental health nonprofit organization is pushing for overdose prevention sites across the state and for more funding for the national suicide hotline as legislators make their way back to Annapolis for the General Assembly’s first day of the 2024 session.
Behavior Health System Baltimore (BHSB) is encouraging lawmakers to double down on harm reduction measures for drug users by creating overdose prevention sites throughout the state.
Those sites will provide a safe, sterile area for people to use opioids while also pairing them with addiction treatment and medical options.
“Overdose prevention sites are a key harm reduction strategy, it is proven that it's been effective at saving lives and improving public safety,” said Adrienne Bridenstine, the vice president of policy at BHSB.
Lawmakers proposed opening six of the overdose prevention sites in legislation last year, but it did not make it into law.
The sites have largely been a success in New York, which opened the nation’s first sanctioned site in 2021. About 120 countries provide overdose treatment sites in some capacity.
A 2017 report from the Abell Foundation, found that these sites significantly reduce overdose deaths.
However, there is likely to be some pushback from communities as some residents don’t want the centers near their homes.
988 hotline
In 2022, the United States opened its 988 hotline for suicide prevention. But, the call centers are staffed and funded locally and funnel people to local crisis centers.
The federal funding for 988 in Maryland only goes so far. Last year, the General Assembly created a trust fund to give more seed money to help the state make its 988 infrastructure more robust.
However, that money will go from $16.2 million in 2025 to $3.2 million in 2026. BHSB is urging a $3-a-year tax on all cell phone lines to bring in $15 million to $20 million in permanent revenue.
Marylanders already pay a $18-a-year fee to pay for 911 services.
Maryland’s 988 hotline has seen a 14-fold increase in text messages since its launch and a nearly 50% increase in monthly calls.