Our reporting last year found many patients of PHA Healthcare had relapsed, overdosed and some even died. In one case, a 13-month-old boy starved. When we shared details with a top health official, she called them "just horrifying."

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

It was a two-year effort spanning multiple newsrooms with brilliant co-reporters @jessicagallagher.bsky.social, Nick Thieme, @mercohn.bsky.social, @justinfenton.bsky.social and @adampwillis.bsky.social. What an incredible and surreal honor. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/lo...

Covering drug addiction and overdoses has been a newsroom-wide effort, with incredible reporting from more than a dozen colleagues. Congratulations to the whole
@thebaltimorebanner.com team. Read our reporting here: www.thebaltimorebanner.com/specials/ove...

Then we published an investigation on the alarming growth of programs with unscrupulous practices as the state has struggled to regulate government-funded addiction treatment. At least 13 people died at a single program, including a baby who starved. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

We shared our data with news organizations across the country, which are writing about the toll of addiction on this generation of older Black men in their communities, catalyzing a long-overdue national conversation. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

Next we highlighted the tremendous toll overdoses were taking on a single generation of older Black men, who had largely been overlooked in this country's opioid crisis. Senior apartments were among the top addresses for overdose deaths in the city. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

Our first story explored how Baltimore became the overdose capital of the U.S. in recent years, with a fatality rate double that of any other major city's. During the same time, city leaders' attention in the issue waned. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

.@jessicagallagher.bsky.social, Nick Thieme and I spent two years examining how city & state leaders had responded to unbelievably high rates of drug overdose death. We won a lawsuit for autopsy records. We attended so many memorials.

Addiction is a treatable disease. People can get better. Investing in drug treatment & affordable housing is a critical part of tackling the overdose crisis. But when operators come in to take advantage, it harms the many good providers in the system and, most of all, patients.

Records of deaths, overdoses & sexual assaults at programs are kept secret by the state health department, which has struggled to regulate and oversee the treatment field. The state can't even inspect or track this type of housing for patients. Some work to fix things has started already.

Inside, we found people desperate for a place to live, who often did not get the help they needed. The counseling was all virtual, and often delivered by unlicensed individuals who logged in from Nigeria.