GRAND JURY SUGGESTS DISTRIBUTION OF DRUGS TO FIGHT EVILS OF TRAFFICKING

Report Nonbinding, Calls For A Study; O'Malley Says Figures Used Aren't
Recent

A Baltimore grand jury released yesterday a report recommending that the
government and doctors become drug dealers, distributing narcotics in
limited doses to addicts as a way of eliminating the profit and violence
from the drug trade.

The report of the grand jury, impaneled by Circuit Judge Althea Handy in
January, is nonbinding and calls first for a university study of the idea to
see if it would be feasible.

"Conventional modes of attacking the drug problem simply aren't working,"
wrote the panel of 23 residents, led by foreman Clark J. Matthews.
"Regulated distribution begins with the recognition that addiction is a
continuing, progressive illness rather than a crime."

The report also calls for increased drug treatment, job training, education
and housing assistance for addicts instead of arrest and incarceration.

Mayor Martin O'Malley, whose administration has increased drug arrests by
two-thirds and increased the number of people receiving drug treatment by 60
percent during the past three years, said that the grand jury did not appear
to have the most recent facts about the city's successes in fighting drug
addiction.

The grand jury's report estimates that the city has 60,000 substance
abusers. A more recent estimate, made by the city's health commissioner, Dr.
Peter L. Beilenson, is that the number of abusers probably has dropped to
about 40,000 during the past three years, in part because of increased
treatment.

Federal statistics show that drug-related deaths in the city dropped by
almost a fifth between 1999 and 2001, and that the number of drug-related
emergency room visits fell by about 25 percent.

"Giving out heroin is diametrically opposed to the approach we are taking,"
O'Malley said. "If the grand jury is recommending this, they are ignoring
the reality of the progress we're making. We've been leading the nation in
the rate of decline of drug-related emergency room visits."

Administrative Judge Ellen M. Heller said that the report was not the
opinion of the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, but of a panel of residents
who are not experts.

Heller noted that she agreed with the report's suggestion that the
government provide more long-term drug treatment programs. The report also
suggests that the government regulate the price, distribution and purity of
narcotics. Addicts would have to register to purchase drugs, then get
prescriptions from a clinic or doctor to buy the drugs at a pharmacy.