T
The420Guy
Guest
This is in response to the Sept. 13 interview with drug czar John
Walters ("Drug czar Walters: Marijuana most abused drug"). Walters
makes reference to Baltimore during my tenure as mayor. Besides
mischaracterizing my views on drug policy reform, he notes that,
during my tenure, "Baltimore had no new of office buildings built"
and was "more damaged by the drug problem than any city in American
history."
Not only did we have new office buildings built, but we built two
professional sports stadiums in the city, one for football and one
for baseball. We tripled the size of our convention center with a
new addition. We opened two new museums and built the first
thousand-room hotel complex on the water's edge of the Baltimore
Inner Harbor.
It is true that we had intravenous drug users who caused severe
problems for our community. However, our approach to this problem
had successes, which Walters fails to mention. Our needle exchange
program helped to reduce the spread of AIDS in this community. A
Johns Hopkins study of the program convinced the Maryland
Legislature to recognize the effectiveness of syringe exchange as
one tool in combating AIDS.
It also contributed to the change of attitude by the Department of
Health and Human Services, which now concludes that syringe exchange
programs do not increase drug usage.
I strongly believe that because of the narrow perspective of John
Walters and others like him, the war on drugs has become our
domestic Vietnam.
Kurt L. Schmoke,
Baltimore
Date: 09/30/2002
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Details: MapInc
Walters ("Drug czar Walters: Marijuana most abused drug"). Walters
makes reference to Baltimore during my tenure as mayor. Besides
mischaracterizing my views on drug policy reform, he notes that,
during my tenure, "Baltimore had no new of office buildings built"
and was "more damaged by the drug problem than any city in American
history."
Not only did we have new office buildings built, but we built two
professional sports stadiums in the city, one for football and one
for baseball. We tripled the size of our convention center with a
new addition. We opened two new museums and built the first
thousand-room hotel complex on the water's edge of the Baltimore
Inner Harbor.
It is true that we had intravenous drug users who caused severe
problems for our community. However, our approach to this problem
had successes, which Walters fails to mention. Our needle exchange
program helped to reduce the spread of AIDS in this community. A
Johns Hopkins study of the program convinced the Maryland
Legislature to recognize the effectiveness of syringe exchange as
one tool in combating AIDS.
It also contributed to the change of attitude by the Department of
Health and Human Services, which now concludes that syringe exchange
programs do not increase drug usage.
I strongly believe that because of the narrow perspective of John
Walters and others like him, the war on drugs has become our
domestic Vietnam.
Kurt L. Schmoke,
Baltimore
Date: 09/30/2002
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Details: MapInc