Posted on 07/29/25
| News Source: FOX45
Baltimore, MD - July 29, 2025 - Narcan, fentanyl test strips, and clean needles are being used across Baltimore to prevent overdoses and infections. These tools can save lives in the moment but they’re not enough, according to one expert on addiction and recovery.
Mike Gimbel, a longtime advocate for drug treatment and former heroin addict himself, says the real solution is being ignored: long-term access to treatment.
“The demand for drug treatment beds is enormous,” Gimbel said. “This is where Baltimore and the state of Maryland have fallen on their face.”
Gimbel, who has been in recovery for nearly 53 years, said the current strategies being used by city and state leaders are falling short. He’s calling them out publicly for what he calls a failure in the fight against addiction.
“What you're seeing on the city and state level, it's not acceptable,” Gimbel said. “It's embarrassing, actually.”
Gimbel is a familiar face to many from his time on FOX45 News’ Straight Talk with Mike Gimbel. He says open-air drug markets in Baltimore are thriving because there’s little incentive for users to change.
“Giving clean needles and Narcan and test strips does not change behavior,” he said. “If you don’t change the behavior of the addict, you may bring them back from an overdose death, but eventually, they’re going to come back.”
He argues that lasting recovery depends heavily on changing a person’s environment — including where they live and who they’re surrounded by.
Drug courts, which can provide court-ordered treatment in place of jail time, are a step in the right direction, he said. But they also face an obstacle.
“The concept of drug court has always been very successful,” Gimbel said. “The problem with drug court is there’s not enough places to send people.”
Without treatment, Gimbel said, many drug users face the same outcome of death.
According to a recent report from The Baltimore Sun, nearly 90% of Maryland’s deaths classified as ‘undetermined’ in 2023 were drug-related. A Johns Hopkins medical director told the newspaper that an estimated two-thirds of those deaths were accidental overdoses.
Baltimore City had the highest number in the state, with 442 undetermined deaths in 2023.
Spotlight on Maryland reviewed similar data from cities facing parallel struggles. In St. Louis, Missouri, there were 12 undetermined deaths reported in 2023 — only two of which involved drugs, according to the medical examiner’s office. In Oakland, California, there were just four undetermined deaths last year.