Today’s show features a special collaboration with the investigative reporting class at Morgan State University’s Department of Multimedia Journalism. For the past four months, students have been digging into a crisis that continues to affect thousands of Baltimore residents: the city’s opioid epidemic.
Baltimore currently holds the highest overdose death rate of any major city in the country. In 2018, city leaders made a bold decision to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors directly — including companies like Johnson & Johnson, Walgreens, and CVS — for their role in fueling the crisis.
While many other cities and states opted to join a national settlement, Baltimore chose to pursue its own case. That strategy has paid off. To date, the city has secured nearly $669 million in settlements — about six times more than it would have received through the national agreement, according to city officials.
Tune in as we unpack how these funds could reshape Baltimore’s response to the opioid crisis and hear from the students behind this powerful reporting project.
