YES, CRACK `BRIBES' DRUG ADDICTS--TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES

You've probably heard about the "racist" sterilization program that bribes
addled drug addicts--primarily black women--to submit to birth control in
exchange for a free fix.

Well, not quite. Yet one might infer this from a story by The Associated
Press that appeared in newspapers across the country last week.

The story told of a privately funded California program "making its way
across the country" (like the plague?) that "pays $200 to drug-addicted
women to get their tubes tied," drawing "the wrath of critics who call it
shortsighted, racist and a source of drug money for users."

Ho-hum. Another day in the life of knee jerks and half-truths. Would you
like to know what the program really does? Would you like to know why the
program is not racist? Would you like to hear why it is less shortsighted
than, say, being a crack addict who gets pregnant once a year, dumps a
damaged infant on society and walks away?

I know a little about this story and the woman who single-handedly started
this program as I'm one of the original cheerleaders for Barbara
Harris--heroine, angel and founder of CRACK (Children Requiring a Caring
Kommunity).

Harris, who has adopted four drug-exposed infants, started CRACK in 1997 in
response to a system that had failed. Noting that crack-addicted women
continued to give birth to damaged children--and that "the system" wasn't
doing anything to stop the cycle--Harris put on her thinking cap.

What would motivate these women to change their behavior? A lecture? A
lovely new Aprica stroller? A year's supply of diapers? Or, might these
drug addicts appreciate a little cash? Bingo, as they say.

Harris started offering men and women $200 to seek permanent birth
control--vasectomies for men and either a tubal ligation, a Norplant patch,
an epidermal patch that prevents pregnancy for up to five years or an
intrauterine device for women.

All voluntary. Clients, only women thus far, collect the money when they
present a doctor's letter saying they've received some form of long-term
birth control.

"Yes, but, (sputter, sputter), Ms. Harris, aren't you in a sense bribing
these women to get birth control?"

Absolutely! Talk about genius.

Harris doesn't coerce, she advertises. The women come to her. Since 1997,
Harris has paid 57 women, who, combined, had given birth 262 times. That's
an average of 4.5 babies each. All babies who, were it not for people like
Harris, might languish in foster care for years, never developing into the
bright children most drug-exposed children can become with early
intervention, love and proper care.

Thanks to Harris, four such babies are flourishing in her home. All four
came from a single mother, who had had eight drug-exposed babies at last count.

Of course Harris has critics. Jesus Christ had critics.

Constance Jackson, president of a health clinic that serves poor patients
on Chicago's South Side, wondered in the AP story whether CRACK would be
popular were most drug-addicted babies white.

The answer, of course, is yes. This isn't about race; it's about children
born damaged and hopeless. In fact, of the women treated so far, 25 are
white, 10 Hispanic and 22 African-American.

Harris is white--her one shortcoming--but her four adopted children are
black, as is Harris' husband. If Harris is considered racist, we may as
well give up.

Meanwhile, until every American adopts an infant born to a drug-addicted
mother, I have but two words for Barbara Harris: thank you.

Which is what the crack addicts say too.