Baltimore homicide detectives to begin investigating drug overdoses

Prosecutors across the state say they lack the tools to charge such cases
The Baltimore Sun (US)
Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Baltimore Police have begun investigating overdoses in an effort to trace drugs back to dealers, joining a wave of Maryland law enforcement agencies showing up at 911 calls previously left to medics. A task force of five detectives will operate out of the homicide unit, responding when possible to fatal and non-fatal overdose scenes. "Thirty years of drug criminalization has overflowed our prisons and devastated our black and brown communities, but has reduced neither the drug trade nor consumption," Bergstein told legislators during testimony during the General Assembly session against the bill that targeted the drug dealers.