The talk will present a snapshot of some of the effects that drug abuse has had on the shrinking city of Baltimore to then close in on the potential that outside the box thinking can have in stabilizing dystopian conditions. It will offer a snapshot into the work of Peter Beilenson – Baltimore City's Health Commissioner from 1991 to 2004 – who turned drug addictions into a public health concern as the criminal justice system remained unprepared to tackle these urban problematics.
