NEWS
By Sumathi Reddy and Sumathi Reddy,Sun Reporter | July 10, 2007
City Council president candidate Michael Sarbanes will unveil today his crime-fighting strategy, which includes shifting from specialized units to neighborhood patrols, salary increases for officers of 6 percent to 8 percent, and more money for drug treatment programs. "I feel a huge sense of urgency around this," said Sarbanes. "We can't as a city fall into a deadly trap of low expectations where we think that ... `Well, we just are a violent city and that's just the way things are.' Things can get much safer in neighborhoods."
NEWS
By Gus G. Sentementes and Gus G. Sentementes,Sun reporter | March 1, 2007
Maryland's inmate health care system faced staffing shortages last year, and plans stalled for drug treatment programs and a new electronic database to keep better track of records, a state audit released yesterday showed. Auditors from the Office of Legislative Audits noted "several significant areas of noncompliance" that affected inmate medical services at facilities across the state, including Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Center and the city jail, according to the report.
NEWS
October 28, 2006
Council acts to ease access to treatment The City Council took a very positive step toward improving the health and safety of our communities when it gave preliminary approval to a bill that would amend city zoning laws that make it difficult, if not impossible, to open or expand outpatient drug treatment programs in Baltimore ("More drug treatment centers," editorial, Oct. 26). Current city zoning laws compel all drug treatment programs - even those with long histories of success in Baltimore - to get legislation enacted in order to open an office, move or expand.
NEWS
By LYNN ANDERSON and LYNN ANDERSON,SUN REPORTER | July 12, 2006
Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center has closed its well-regarded drug detoxification center and is expanding its methadone treatment program, a move that reflects a shift in the city's drug treatment policy. Hundreds of addicts were weaned off of drugs during stays of 10 days to two weeks at the detox center. But city drug treatment officials say the unit did not adequately meet the needs of the city's hardcore addicts, many of whom require more support than detoxification. They also say public dollars would be better spent on long-term drug treatment, which can last up to a year and includes services such as methadone maintenance, counseling, job training and the use of buprenorphine, a prescription drug that cuts clients' craving for heroin.
NEWS
By Steven Bodzin and Steven Bodzin,LOS ANGELES TIMES | August 19, 2005
WASHINGTON - In an apparent response to congressional charges that it was ignoring methamphetamine abuse, three high-level Bush administration officials went to a Tennessee drug court yesterday to offer "innovative solutions" to combat a problem that has spread rapidly across the country. "The scourge of methamphetamine demands unconventional thinking and innovative solutions to fight the devastation it leaves behind," said Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. "I have directed U.S. attorneys to make prosecution of methamphetamine-related crimes a top priority and seek the harshest penalties."
NEWS
March 17, 2005
IN BALTIMORE, nearly one in five black men 20 to 30 years old is in prison, and more than half are under the control of the criminal justice system - in prison, on parole or on probation. Those grim statistics are contained in a report released this week by the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington-based research organization. Since most of these offenders are somehow involved in drugs and the drug trade, the report serves as yet another reminder that more treatment and less imprisonment would be a better approach to the city's crime and social problems.