A Montgomery County-based nonprofit pushing for drug legalization will hold a public hearing in Baltimore next month as overdoses continue to rock the city.
The National Coalition for Drug Legalization, based in Clarksburg, will hold the event at 6 p.m. on July 8 at Enoch Pratt Library’s Wheeler Auditorium. Speakers will detail how full legalization, not decriminalization, is the type of harm reduction needed to keep drug users alive and out of the criminal justice system.
“Legalization and regulation will not only take the stigma away from drug use, but it wouldn’t send people to prison for simply using drugs,” said Veronica Wright, founder of the organization. “And it would open up the door for people to get the help they need. Prison is not the place for rehabilitation. That’s the long and short.”
Wright founded the organization in 2019. She took up the cause after the death of her cousin, who was born drug dependent, later went to prison for drugs and died of alcoholism.
Wright took care of the man’s son and wished he would have been able to see his child graduate high school. His death was completely preventable, she said.
“That felony made it hard for him to get jobs and fully rehabilitate and re-enter society,” she said. “What he needed was drug rehab and mental health (treatment). That’s what made me think about legalization.”
Subjects such as decriminalization and legalization are politically controversial. Drug legalization in particular is unlikely to conjure up enough support to become law, even in a blue state such as Maryland.
However, as cities throughout the U.S. struggle to combat the fentanyl-driven overdose crisis, a key issue arises: Prohibition creates an unregulated, illicit drug supply that is increasingly dangerous, Wright said.
While Baltimore experimented with de facto decriminalization under former State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, certain amounts of drugs are still criminalized under such policies — leaving the adulterant-filled, unpredictable drug supply untouched.
“I want people to understand that the violence they’re facing in their community is more than likely coming from drug trafficking, and the overdoses they’re seeing in their community is coming from an unprotected drug supply that’s prohibited,” Wright said.
Discussions about the best harm reduction approaches come as many areas of the U.S. have seen overdose deaths subside after a pandemic-era surge. Yet Baltimore is again seeing numbers tick up to unprecedented levels.
There were 1,043 overdose deaths in Baltimore in the 12-month period ending January 2024, an 8.2% increase over the year prior, according to data from Maryland’s Office of Overdose Response.
The death rate was 178.1 deaths per 100,000 people, the highest in the U.S.
Attending the public forum is free. Those wishing to register may do so at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reduce-crime-now-drug-legalization-as-a-tool-for-public-safety-tickets-898725099967.
Speakers at the event include Neill Franklin, National Coalition for Drug Legalization; Natalie Flath, PhD candidate and researcher at Johns Hopkins University; Duane “Shorty” Davis, a Baltimore-based activist; Jessica Russell, a Baltimore-based activist; and Leo Wilson Jr., A Thought Processed.
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