A rise in suicides and concerns about police interactions with those threatening to self-harm have prompted legislation in Maryland that would ease costs for certain treatment and require more training for law enforcement.
Other legislation would require the state to study and track an increase in the number of Marylanders taking their own lives.
In 2018, 650 people in Maryland died by suicide, according to a 2020 report from the Governorâs Commission on Suicide Prevention, a 37 percent increase from the 474 suicide deaths in 2000; each year an average of 530 people in the state have died by suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.