Addicted To Drugs

Areas near Beltway aren't suitable for denser development The Sun's article "Glendening reopens battle against sprawl" (Aug. 20) comes at a time when Baltimore County councilmen are making judgments about zoning issues. Government officials must clearly define where high-density areas are, so that voters know where they stand. Most mature neighborhoods along the beltway should not be designated for higher-density development and are entitled to receive assurances to that effect. Their lack of adequate facilities along with quality of life factors require this.

Six days a week, about 300 people funnel through the nondescript EJAL Health Services building in Glen Burnie to take the dose of pink liquid methadone they depend on to keep withdrawal at bay. They're of all ages, races and backgrounds - dentists, used-car salesmen, undertakers. Some bring their small children with them, making a few of the clinic's neighbors in the Crain Highway warehouse strip assume it's a day care. But residents, business owners and elected officials in Baltimore's suburbs are mobilizing against methadone clinics, fearing that they will attract crime and drugs to their neighborhoods.

AN OPTIMIST could take heart in signs that Baltimore's huge drug problem might just be on the decline. The numbers of fatal overdoses and emergency room visits are trending downward, drug treatment has expanded in the past decade, and surveys suggest there might be a generational shift away from hard drugs. But it is impossible to seriously assess the course of the city's struggle with drugs. And because of that, the city is stuck with a number that has hung around its neck for two decades: 60,000 addicts.

Charles A. Moss Jr. last saw his stepson about a week ago when Anthony Thomas stopped by the house where he grew up and where Moss still lives, a few blocks south of Pimlico Race Course . "He was hustling," Moss said. "He wanted some money. " He said he gave his stepson "a couple bucks" and sent him on his way. Thomas, 45, repeated this pattern every few weeks. He hadn't lived with Moss on Dupont Avenue in 25 years, and two relatives said they had no idea where Thomas spent most nights.

R&B singer Mario, the Baltimore-born performer whose struggle with his heroin-addicted mother formed the basis of an MTV documentary, was arrested early Friday after she told police that he struck her and destroyed their Fells Point apartment. The 24-year-old, whose full name is Mario Dewar Barrett, was charged with one count of second-degree assault and released after posting $50,000 bond. An attorney representing the singer called the arrest "an unfortunate incident between a loving son and a mother who continues to struggle with a devastating addiction.

Los Angeles--Until Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered, few people outside the chic boutiques of Rodeo Drive, Starbuck's in Brentwood and some charity circles of Beverly Hills had ever heard of Faye Resnick.Even afterward, as the O.J. Simpson case spun out a huge cast of characters, she remained in the peripheral world of the tabloids.But now, with a giant assist from Judge Lance Ito, who urged potential jurors to avoid Ms. Resnick's new book about Mrs. Simpson and beseeched television figures like Larry King and Connie Chung not to talk with her, Ms. Resnick has strutted onto center stage.

WASHINGTON -- A growing number of homeless people are severely mentally ill and addicted to drugs or alcohol, according to a survey released yesterday.The survey of 21 large cities, conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, found that 33 percent of the homeless in the study suffered from severe mental illness -- up 7 percent since January 1990 -- and that about half of them were addicted to drugs and alcohol.The number of homeless suffering from both severe mental illness and drug addiction increased by 9 percent since January 1990, the mayors' group said.

In Baltimore City Needle exchange program has enrolled 14,000 clients A Baltimore needle exchange program designed to reduce the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users has enrolled more than 14,000 clients and exchanged more than 6.6 million dirty needles for clean ones since its inception in 1994, city health officials said yesterday. The program, designed to link people addicted to drugs with treatment, also has placed more than 2,300 people into treatment, Health Commissioner Dr. Peter L. Beilenson said.

Former first lady Betty Ford will be the keynote speaker today during dedication ceremonies for a new building at Father Martin's Ashley, an addiction treatment facility near Havre de Grace.The new $6 million building, to be named Bantle Hall, features rooms for 20 patients, a dining hall, a medical facility and administrative offices.Entertainment for the 1 p.m. event will be provided by Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers.Father Martin's Ashley has received national recognition for its alcohol and drug dependency treatment programs.

The Rev. Donald P. Skwor, pastor of St. Rita's Roman Catholic Church in Dundalk, died Monday of lung cancer at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 74. A former superior general of his religious order, the Society of the Divine Savior, he had been named pastor at St. Rita's on Jan. 1, before his cancer was diagnosed. Born in Manitowoc, Wis., he entered the Salvatorian Seminary in St. Nazianz, Wis., in 1942 and earned a degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington in 1950.