• OSI’s Scott Nolen to be featured as a Comcast Newsmaker

    Scott Nolen, director of OSI-Baltimore’s Addiction and Health Equity program, was interviewed last week by Comcast Newsmakers and will be featured in February as part of a Black History Month series of African-American leaders discussing issues confronting African-American communities. Nolen, pictured on the set with host Tetiana Anderson, discussed the ways OSI-Baltimore is working to […]

  • OSI hosts second public health advocacy and leadership training

    This weekend in Easton, Maryland, Open Society Institute’s Addiction and Health Equity team hosted its second Advocacy and Leadership Training for people with lived experience with addiction. The first training took place last month in Frederick. The trainings are intended to help build the field of advocates around the state and increase the representation of people […]

  • OSIs Addiction and Health Equity program hosts Advocacy and Leadership training

    On Friday and Saturday, OSI’s Addiction and Health Equity program held the first of its Advocacy and Leadership training sessions, intended to help build the field of advocates around the state and increase the representation of people with lived experience with addiction in policy conversations. The training, held in Frederick, Maryland, included a welcome from […]

  • OSI’s Scott Nolen selected for Presidential Leadership Scholars Program

    OSI-Baltimore congratulates Scott Nolen, director of our Drug Addiction Treatment Program, for being one of 60 people selected for the third cohort of the Presidential Leadership Scholars Program. This is a national leadership development program—16 days over the course of six months—that is hosted by four Presidential Centers, the George H.W. Bush Presidential Center in […]

  • Congress approves $181 million for addiction and recovery response

    After passing in the House last week, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) passed in the Senate this week and is now headed to the president’s desk for signature. This is a major piece of legislation and the first drug-related law in nearly 40 years to pass with no criminal penalties attached to it. The […]

  • Advocates, community discuss adolescents, addiction, and juvenile justice

    Last night, a wide range of advocates, activists, families touched by addiction, and other community members packed Red Emma’s for a Talking About Addiction event focused on youth, addiction, and the juvenile justice system. The speakers included Evan Elkin (with the microphone, above), executive director of Reclaiming Futures, a Portland, Oregon-based organization established to build, run and test […]

  • OSI presents in BPD’s “History of Baltimore” speaker series

    A better understanding of Baltimore will lead to better policing. That’s the idea behind “The History of Baltimore,” a speaker series developed by Police Commissioner Kevin Davis after last year’s uprising as a way to give police officers a better understanding of the communities they serve. Topics include the history of Baltimore neighborhoods, the Orthodox Jewish community, […]

  • Next in Our Talking About Addiction Series: Youth, Addiction, and Juvenile Justice

    On June 1 at Red Emma’s, OSI-Baltimore will host the second event in its “Talking About Addiction” series, a discussion about adolescents and addiction with experts in the field, advocates, and families that have been affected by addiction problems. Much of the public, along with advocates, healthcare providers, and even many in law enforcement, have come […]

  • General Assembly Takes Big Steps to Reform Maryland’s Criminal Justice System

    Last week, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation that, if fully implemented, will begin to bring an end to years of mass incarceration in Maryland by prioritizing drug treatment over prison, improving parole practices to better support release and reintegration, and doing  away with racially unjust mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. The Justice […]

  • Harm Reduction makes gains at 2016 General Assembly

    Even though no harm reduction-related bills passed during the just-completed 2016 General Assembly, it was still a good session for harm reduction advocates, says Scott Nolen, director of OSI’s drug addiction treatment program, in a City Paper op-ed. Del. Daniel Morhaim’s comprehensive package of bills designed to change the way we look at drug addiction—from […]