In a report meant to rekindle debate over drug policy, a Baltimore grand jury suggests that marijuana be "decriminalized" and that doctors be allowed to dispense drugs such as heroin and cocaine to addicts.
The grand jury, in a report scheduled for release today, rejects the blanket legalization of drugs, arguing that would increase drug addiction. However, the panel cautiously promotes a "medicalization" model -- allowing addicts to receive treatment on demand and, in some cases, allotments of drugs -- as a way to stem the tide of drugs on city streets.
"It is time to take a very serious look at the drug problem in Baltimore City. Removing the profit from the drug trade may be the only way to resolve it," says the report from the grand jury, which was assigned by a judge to study drug legalization.
The grand jury says striking down laws against possessing small amounts of marijuana is an "honest response" to a finding that authorities seldom enforce such laws. Its proposal also recommends treating drug abuse as a medical problem instead of a crime, and offering addicts treatment in lieu of jail time.
The report was hailed by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, who since 1988 has advocated a national debate on alternative approaches to fighting drugs. "I was pleased they came down on the side of making the war on drugs more of a public health war rather than a criminal justice war."
Estimates on the document's impact ranged widely.
"I think it could have historic impact," said Arnold S. Trebach, president of the Drug Policy Foundation, a think tank that explores alternative drug-enforcement strategies.
But Dr. Herbert D. Kleber, an addictions treatment expert from Columbia University who opposes dispensing cocaine and heroin to addicts, disagreed. "It's a local grand jury. I don't think .. anybody will take it very seriously."
Mr. Schmoke, whose call for a debate on drug reform has produced studies but limited agreement among policy-makers, saw the grand jury's findings as significant new support.
"I think it is going to be an influential document," he said. "These are 23 average citizens from all walks of life in the community. They are not experts in any particular field. They didn't come into the review with any particular bias. They just took the judge's charge to look into this matter and did it in a fair and open-minded fashion."
When the grand jury was sworn in for a four-month term on Sept. 12, Baltimore Circuit Judge Joseph P. McCurdy Jr. told it to look into the issue of drug decriminalization. "Many of us feel that the war on drugs has not succeeded, that we are losing ground with each passing day, that we are wasting resources and that we have to look at this problem anew," he said.
Members of the grand jury heard from Mr. Schmoke, city Health Commissioner Dr. Peter Beilenson, city Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier and the then-state's attorney, Stuart O. Simms. They also reviewed drug laws in the Netherlands, where small quantities of "soft drugs" such as marijuana are sold in coffee shops to adults as part of a policy that approaches drug use as a health problem.
They also heard from William R. Caltrider Jr., president of the Center for Alcohol and Drug Research and Education, a research group. Mr. Caltrider said he is opposed to loosening restrictions on the availability of any drugs, because dispensing drugs to addicts condones their illegal behavior and legalizing drugs "would lead to a chemical holocaust in most urban neighborhoods."
Dr. Kleber, executive vice president of the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, said dispensing the drug that is craved is not the way to treat drug addiction. "That is an unworkable idea which would . . . make things worse," he said. "Cocaine feeds on itself and leads to more cocaine use. No one, as far as I know, anywhere in the world has been able to treat cocaine by giving cocaine."
For heroin addicts, he added, the emphasis should be on funding more methadone treatment programs. He also opposed the decriminalization of marijuana, saying it would increase use among adolescents whose social growth could be stunted.
But David C. Condliffe, executive director of Drug Policy Foundation, praised Baltimore as a city on the cutting edge of a "sane" drug policy.
He noted that the Clinton administration yesterday announced a policy that shifts a larger percentage of drug-fighting money away from treatment and prevention, and toward law enforcement. Pointing to the grand jury report, he said, "Washington is simply out of step with the citizens."
Mr. Schmoke and the Drug Policy Foundation have long been allied in pursuing a drug policy overhaul. Foundation representatives were members of Mr. Schmoke's 1993 task force on drug policy reform, and Mr. Schmoke has been a member of the group's board of advisers.
The grand jury has gone further than did that task force, which favored making methadone more easily available but did not suggest that heroin or cocaine be prescribed in maintenance levels. It did encourage research in "various drug maintenance options."
That task force provided the impetus for one of the few tangible results of Mr. Schmoke's dogged pursuit of drug reform -- a pilot needle-exchange program meant to slow the spread of AIDS among addicts in Baltimore.
The grand jury's 20-page report notes that 80 percent of the inmates in city correctional facilities are locked up for drug-related crimes, and that available treatment facilities can help only a small percentage of the city's estimated 50,000 drug users.