Just over a week after a “bad batch” of drugs sent dozens of people in West Baltimore to the hospital, police and medical personnel responded to multiple overdose calls in the Penn North neighborhood Friday.
Five people were taken to nearby hospitals, all in serious condition, Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace said at a news conference. Two people refused additional treatment after first responders deployed Narcan. 911 calls about the overdoses began to come in a little before 9 a.m., though the call volume wasn’t as concentrated as last week, he said.
“Round two, round two,” a man said as he pushed a walker down North Avenue. “You saw what happened last Thursday? This is round two.”
At least 27 people were hospitalized last week amid the mass overdose, an incident that drew swift response from the city and community organizations but also put a spotlight on criticism from neighborhoods that have felt ignored amid Baltimore’s overdose crisis.
“I understand the frustration,” Mayor Brandon Scott said of Penn North residents who feel the past week has been the first time they’ve seen the city show up for them. “We’re talking about a neighborhood … that has been so disinvested in for so long. We’re not going to change that overnight.”
Baltimore leaders and police are investigating what caused the mass overdose. At the press conference Friday, Commissioner Richard Worley said police are looking at the overdoses Friday and last week as separate investigations for the time being.
Federal scientists who analyzed drug samples believed to be tied to the mass overdoses said they may have been the result of the powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl and N-methylclonazepam, a benzodiazepine derivative with intense sedative effects.
Scott said they are withholding results from the police lab investigation regarding the drugs involved in last week’s mass overdose, which he said may be different from what’s been publicly reported. Scott said samples sent to the National Institute of Standards and Technology were not sent by the city government.
City and community workers canvassed the neighborhood for days after the incident last week, handing out the overdose-reversal drug naloxone and fentanyl test strips. Advocates said there’s a new effort to show up at Penn North every Friday.
“Today’s incident is a painful reminder that our work is far from over,” Scott said Friday.
Baltimore’s fatal overdose rate in recent years has surpassed that of any other large city in the country. The city has also seen an increase in nonfatal overdoses, said Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, deputy mayor of health and human services.
Community groups said the mass overdose last week forced people to notice what Penn North residents experience every day. Although she couldn’t provide specific numbers, Dzirasa said there’s been an uptick in overdose calls since last week.
This month, Baltimore leaders unveiled a draft plan outlining how the city wants to reduce overdose deaths by 40% by 2040. The plan includes around-the-clock outreach teams and safe spaces where people can rest and receive resources. The city expects to receive more than $260 million from settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Councilman Mark Conway, who called on the city to hold public hearings on Baltimore’s fatal overdose rate, said in a statement that “the urgency of this moment cannot be overstated.”
Conway, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, said the city needs to do more to provide long-term recovery and expand access to naloxone, fentanyl test strips and other harm-reduction services.
Local leaders and community members criticized the lack of consistent services in the city’s most impacted neighborhoods. After an outpouring of support last week, the intersection at Penn and North quieted over the weekend, advocates said.
“People fade away — they’ve got agendas, other things to do,” said Vincent Timmons, an outreach specialist at Tuerk House. “People don’t remember that area. They’re used to that.”
Throughout the past week, Joe Carlini, the director of Chrysler Counselor, has been checking in on the neighborhood, going beyond the main streets to find people struggling in back alleys and abandoned houses.
Timmons and Carilini stressed the importance of consistency with communities affected by the overdose crisis. Following through on promises, even bringing someone a T-shirt or bottle of water, is imperative, Timmons said.
“These people saw all these people come out there. They will keep striving and waiting for this help to come,” Carlini said.
