OF COSTS AND CRUELTY

Editor -- Barbara Harris' plan of paying crack mothers $200 for giving
up their ability to bear drug-addicted children is the most effective
means of preventing suffering (``New Twist in Birth Control Plan,''
October 21). Let's do the math. The average crack baby costs the
taxpayers over $1 million to care for. So the argument of better using
the $200 for treatment is absurd.

If this stipend prevents one addicted child from being born, the
$999,800 that the taxpayers are saving could fund years of treatment
for hundreds of addicts. Critics harping on sterilization are wasting
their breath, as birth control also meets the criteria of this
program. Most addicts will get their drugs with or without the $200,
and theft or prostitution is one of the more common ways of obtaining
this kind of money. While this program may seem cruel, the long-term
outlook without it is far worse.

Carla Anderson
Guerneville