MY DEC. 6 article on this page, which called for treating drug addiction as a public health problem rather than a criminal one, has done what the City-Wide Coalition, intended -- helped ignite TC a public dialogue on the subject. The Coalition is asking Baltimore City residents to demand that the Baltimore City Council introduce a resolution asking the U.S. Congress to establish a politically independent commission to oversee the distribution of now-illegal drugs through health clinics for a nominal fee.
We believe that such a move would help end many of the results of the drug wars, including a skyrocketing murder rate, the need of addicts to steal huge amounts each day to pay for the high cost of illegal drugs and the high rate of AIDS infection.
Writer Robin Miller responded to the Coalition's proposal on this page on Dec. 9 with a call for private businesses, not the government, to run clinics that would dispense drugs to addicts. Mr. Miller wrote: "Imagine deserted storefronts, all over the city, being turned into neighborhood dope stores," when describing the free-enterprise network that could fill the void left when illegal pushers are forced out of business.
The City-Wide Coalition proposes that we avoid repeating the mistakes made after Prohibition, when the once-illegal bootleggers were simply licensed to open liquor stores. Eventually, liquor stores cluttered many low-income neighborhoods. Also, TV and other media ads help foster the idea that alcohol is necessary to have a good time. As a result, alcoholism has become a major problem.
The Coalition wants to force the federal government to create a commission composed of people involved in such nonprofit groups as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, the Christic Institute, nurses' unions, etc. This commission would establish clinics to distribute drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
It would still be illegal to sell drugs on the street, but with drugs available in the clinics and the huge profits gone from the drug trade, it would be a moot point.
The distribution problem aside, what will happen to the thousands of people, many of them young, black males, who currently are selling drugs, once the streets were clear of drug dealing? The solution is a federal program similar to those of the 1930s' Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps camps. Young men and women, and even older homeless people, could be housed in camp-like conditions where they would be trained for full-time employment. They would be provided with food, shelter, medical care, group counseling, high school equivalency course work, etc., as well as a 40-hour work week in their communities.
Addressing the drug wars this way acknowledges that the deteriorating social conditions -- unemployment, poverty, homelessness and helplessness -- drive people to abuse drugs. Most Americans abuse legal drugs. The Journal of the American Medical Association notes that 100 times more Americans die each year from legal drugs than from all illegal drugs combined.
As long as social conditions drive people to abuse drugs, they will. As long as selling drugs remains as profitable as it is there will always be others to take the place of the drug dealers killed in the turf wars.
Before the Coalition's proposal can become a reality, we need one brave soul on the City Council to introduce our resolution. Such a member doesn't even have to endorse the resolution; he or she could simply introduce it as a courtesy to the Coalition.
Once such a resolution is approved by the council, it would be distributed to President Bill Clinton, the Congress, the governors and legislatures of all 50 states, and to the mayors and councils of the 50 largest cities who would be asked to help get their congressional representatives to support this effort.
Persons interested in working with members of the Coalition, may contact us at (410) 728-8611.
A. Robert Kaufman is president of the City-Wide Coalition.