Whether it’s night or day, opioid overdoses in Baltimore are an around-the-clock epidemic. Especially when fentanyl is mixed in; a drug 50 to 100 times more powerful than heroin.

According to Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, “Since 2013, we’ve gone from 12 fentanyl deaths in one year to 500.”

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Baltimore’s 11 hospitals have committed to a new city initiative aimed at increasing their role in fighting the opioid epidemic. 

Executives from each hospital joined Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Health Commissioner Dr. Leana S. Wen Monday in announcing the efforts to screen patients for addiction, connect them to rehabilitation services and distribute the overdose reversal drug naloxone, among other ways to better help people dealing with substance abuse. 

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The number of Americans who have died in the ongoing opioid epidemic continues to climb. Between September 2016 and September 2017, more than 45,600 Americans died from overdoses involving opioids. The number of fatal opioid-related overdoses in D.C. more than doubled between 2015 and 2016, and continued to rise in 2017. While Baltimore has not yet published its final numbers for the previous year, preliminary data for the first three quarters of 2017 suggests a similar trend.

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Baltimore city hospitals soon will be scored on how prepared they are to respond to the opioid epidemic, the city's health department announced Monday. 

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In a new initiative being launched with 11 Baltimore hospitals, the City Health Department plans to certify each one that adopts “best practices” for treating patients who overdose on opioids or are struggling with addiction. 

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Baltimore officials will announce an initiative on Monday meant to give the city’s 11 hospitals incentive to play a bigger role in ending the opioid epidemic.

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In this op-ed, Representative Elijah Cummings discusses the opioid epidemic, Dr. Wen's advice about how to combat it, and the legislation he and Senator Warren recently introduced, the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency (CARE) Act. 

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On Oct. 26 last year, President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic -- which took more than 64,000 lives in 2016 -- a national emergency.

'“We’ve seen no effect here in Baltimore from the emergency [declaration]," says Leana Wen, the city's health commissioner. "We could save so many more lives if we had more resources. We don’t need any more rhetoric."

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The House heads into a marathon opioid markup Wednesday, a day after the Senate health committee approved bipartisan legislation of its own addressing the crisis. Both chambers are eager to advance bills to combat the crisis under an aggressive timeline, with an eye toward demonstrating action before the midterms on an issue that affects voters representing most demographics and districts.

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