Baltimore will hold four listening sessions in the city’s neighborhoods with the highest overdose rates, allowing community members to offer input on the city’s plan for addressing overdoses.
The Baltimore City’s Opioid Restitution Fund Community Listening Sessions were initially announced along with Scott’s August 2024 opioid restitution executive order.
The Mayor’s Office of Overdose Response is partnering with the Baltimore Community Mediation Center to hold the four listening sessions. The goal is to offer residents the chance to give feedback on the city’s plan for addressing the overdose crisis over the next two years.
“From the beginning, our work to end the opioid epidemic in Baltimore has been about the people of our city— especially those most impacted by this crisis,” Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement. “We’ve secured historic settlements and awards by going after Big Pharma companies, which we’re investing back into our people and neighborhoods. These Community Listening Sessions will give residents an opportunity to make their voices heard as we work together to determine the best use of these funds, and help the most Baltimoreans possible.”
Earlier in June 2025, a Baltimore judge ruled that a jury awarded too much liability to two companies, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen, for their role in Baltimore’s opioid crisis. The jury had awarded the city $5 billion in abatement for a plan that included Naloxone vending machines, overdose prevention sites, wound care kits, and drug treatment programs. Around 6,000 people in Baltimore died from opioid overdoses in six years. Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lawerence Fletcher-Hill suggested a $52 million liability total award instead and offered the city the option of a retrial.
Scott called Fletcher-Hill’s opinion “disappointing” in a statement published on social media and said the city is considering their options.
“We must not lose sight of the heart of this effort,” Scott said at the time. “Even with today’s decision, the settlement’s we’ve reached through this process far exceed what our city would have gained through the global settlement — making it clear that we made the right decision to continue this fight alone.”
Baltimore City has won more than $400 million in restitution from other companies for their roles in the opioid crisis.
The four listening sessions to gather resident input on next steps will take place at the following times and locations:
- Wednesday, July 9: 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Cherry Hill Elementary and Middle School, 801 Bridgeway Road, Baltimore, MD 21225
- Thursday, July 17, 5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Gethsemane Baptist Church, 2520 Francis St., Baltimore, MD 21217
- Wednesday, July 23, 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Pimlico Elementary and Middle School, 4849 Pimlico Road, Baltimore, MD 21215
- Thursday, July 31, 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Henderson Hopkins Elementary and Middle School, 2100 Ashland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21205
Registration is not required for attendance, but it is highly encouraged. To register for the Community Listening sessions, click this link.
To learn more about Baltimore City’s use of opioid restitution funds, ongoing response to the overdose crisis, and future updates, click this link.
