THE ONLY SERIOUS CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR

A. Robert Kaufmann's letter to City Paper complaining about his not
being treated as a serious candidate for mayor (The Mail, 4/14),
causes me to comment that he is in fact the ONLY serious candidate for
mayor. This is because he is the only candidate who makes ending drug
prohibition the centerpiece of his campaign.

Drug prohibition is the worst urban problem that this country faces.
It is responsible for the vast majority of crimes that are committed,
and it is responsible for the blight of the innner city. Just think
of how much class sizes could be reduced if the money wasted on the
drug war were available for education!

Any mayoral candidate who does not focus on ending drug prohibition is
not really serious about reducing crime, cleaning up the inner city,
or improving education, no matter how well intentioned he is. Making
an occasional statement about looking into ending drug prohibition, as
Mayor Schmoke has done, is not enough. We need A. Robert Kaufmann for
mayor.

Henry Cohen
Baltimore