Drugs and crime
Drugs, I am told, are the main cause of crime in Baltimore. Not only are they responsible for much of the theft and burglary but most of the murders too.
Tens of thousands of people in the city are addicted to narcotics such as heroin and crack cocaine. They buy their fixes from dealers in open-air drug markets such as the busy one I walked past yesterday at the corner of Park Heights Avenue and Cold Spring Lane in West Baltimore.
As well as the many drug dealers on that corner there is also a building which is home to the ‘I Can’t We Can’ rehabilitation progam. Inside the building is a large room where men sit on one side, women the other, and share their experiences of addiction with each other.
I spoke to people like Karen Royster, a 46-year-old woman who became homeless and lost custody of her six children because of her addiction to crack cocaine. Terry Bullock, a 36-year-old man who has admitted he would steal and attack people to fund his habit. And Kathalene, a 48-year-old who had been taking drugs since 11 and has been arrested ten times.
All of them are now clean and have been for varying periods of between five years, in Kathalene’s case, to just a month, in Terry’s.
Yet they did it not through a government-funded initiative, but through a group run on a shoestring budget from inside a run-down building behind a supermarket.
Not because they wanted to, but because the I Can’t We Can program is, according to everyone I spoke to there, the only one in the city which offers treatment on demand. In other words, users can turn up at any time during the day or night and be seen instantly.
Other programs involve a waiting list. This is unappealing because if drug addicts turn up asking for treatment and are told to return at a later date the chances are that, in the intervening period, they will return to using drugs.
The I Can’t We Can program attempts to wean people off drugs by introducing spirituality. It does not offer its subscribers a drug substitute, such as methadone. The organizers say that simply giving users another drug does not solve the problem.
They would no doubt disagree with a government-backed pilot scheme currently being run in the UK. It involves giving heroin addicts two injections a day of actual heroin, not the usual methadone subsitute. It is highly controversial but, after three years, those running it claim that they have seen a huge drop in crime by those taking part.
Comments
It's too bad that we won't ever adopt the European drug management style. Treat it like a medical problem and stop filling our jails. A Baltimore police officer wrote a memoir recently about following police in Holland as they gave back a junkies drugs after processing him for a car break in. He was amazed, but the Dutch officer pointed out that if he kept the drugs, the guy would just break another window. Thanks for coming, Mr. Hughes, interesting reads.
Posted by: Jake | November 6, 2009 7:07 AM
British are struggling with their drug policy as well! A well publicized firing of professor Nutt from The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Until government doesn't spend at least a half of money on healing drug addicts than fighting drug addicts, situation wont be fixed. You cant lock everyone up!!! You have to take the profit out of drugs... however you want to achieve that! Legalization or Decriminalization!?!??! You don't see people selling beer on black market... you don't see people shooting each other for bottle of wine or whiskey now... do you?
Posted by: Eureka | November 6, 2009 10:23 AM
It's clear that our drug laws and treatment options do not work. I wish that we would stop being so pig headed about things and take a more progressive approach, as they have done in some European countries. Our current drug laws put addicts in jail and never properly address the issue of addiction. Treatment programs are often out of reach for many addicts, as you stated, and many are expensive. Many addicts also lack a support system after recovery, so it's just too easy to return to their addiction. A lot of heroin addicts especially spend a life of on-again off-again drug use.
Baltimore's other problem is poverty, and this goes hand in hand with drugs as many young people turn to a life of crime since the money earned selling drugs is thought to be more lucrative than an "honest" job. Sadly, most pay a high price for it with their lives. Whether you're selling drugs or doing drugs, it doesn't matter - both are activities that involve a high level of risk.
Posted by: Amelia | November 6, 2009 1:35 PM
Eureka,
You are totally right. Consider also, if we legalized breaking and entering, we could eliminate all those pesky manslaughters with people defending their homes. If we allowed grand theft auto, these kids wouldn't be out on street corners, they'd be getting out of the city! And if corruption was just dandy well then there wouldn't be any articles about taxpayers and Dixon's legal fees.
Just because something is costing us instantly makes it not worth standing up against. Right and wrong is always that simple. Bravo, Eureka, Bravo.
Posted by: Duh | November 6, 2009 4:04 PM
While illegal drugs like crack are terrible, the real problem today is prescription drugs. OxyContin--legal heroin is a drug that starts many on the road to addiction.
We need to educate people and stop the pill pushing doctors who put money above anything else.
Steve
http://novusdetox.com
Posted by: Detoxer | November 7, 2009 12:54 PM
Amelia,
Not sure if you're high or just stupid. Clearly innocent people are getting killed because our impractical policies. Get off your high horse and think for a change.
Posted by: baltoboy | November 7, 2009 6:08 PM