|
|
Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
 |
|
|
Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
|
by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
The Good Samaritan=s death warranted only three terse paragraphs in Baltimore=s daily newspaper. That is how common the deadly impact of drugs has become.
Under the newspaper caption, AMan seeking to halt drug sale is shot to death,@ the police outlined in calm, matter-of-fact language how Raymond Pitchford was shot to death around noon on March 18 for the simple act of asking two men to stop selling drugs on Crystal Avenue.
"He was visiting some relatives in the area," Detective Albert Marcus of the homicide unit observed.
"He was a nice guy. He just wanted them to quit selling on the corner. They apparently came back and shot him."
Raymond Pitchford died attempting to do the right thing on that Baltimore street corner. He deserved better - a longer life and more respectful recognition of the loss represented by his death.
We must develop and adequately fund more effective anti-drug strategies that do not require acts of self-sacrifice like Raymond Pitchford=s.
During the Cold War - when we faced the threat of totalitarian communism - Members of Congress often bickered about defense strategy. Ultimately, however, the Congress put partisanship and politics aside and formulated the bipartisan policy response that succeeded.
Faced with a comparable threat, I have been working with House Democrats and Republicans like Florida Congressman John L. Mica (Chairman of the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources on which I serve) to develop a more-bipartisan foundation for our national drug strategy. The task has not been easy, but we are making progress.
Many Americans have viewed drug abuse exclusively as a public safety issue, requiring harsh, mandatory sentencing and more jail cells. As a result, between 1972 and 1996, the U.S. incarceration rate increased from 100 per 100,000 Americans to 450 per 100,000. Today, nearly 2 million adults are incarcerated in America=s prisons and jails.
Since 1996, the Congress has authorized more than $10 billion in new funding for federal prison construction. More than 60% of the men in prison tested positive for illegal drugs when they were arrested.
These dramatic figures support a growing, bipartisan understanding that we cannot Aarrest our way out of our drug problem.@ The power of drug addiction is so overwhelming, however, that many addicts need the threat of incarceration to strengthen their will to become drug-free.
Our drug policy need not choose between more effective policing and providing treatment to non-violent offenders. We must do both.
These were the insights Baltimore City=s Mayor, Martin O=Malley, Baltimore County Executive Dutch Ruppersberger, Maryland=s Corrections and Public Safety Secretary Stuart Simms and virtually all of the other expert witnesses expressed to us during our Congressional Drug Policy Hearing in Baltimore last Monday.
I invited Congressman Mica to Baltimore to learn more about our City=s response to drugs. Along with Congressman Ben Cardin, we also heard testimony about successful alternatives to prison for non-violent drug offenders - including Maryland=s ABreak the Cycle@ (BTC) initiative and the New York-based Drug Treatment Alternative to Prison Program (DTAP).
BTC uses drug testing, treatment, and swift, certain and escalating sanctions for failed or missed drug tests to reduce recidivism. The program has cut in half the rate of failed drug tests during the first 60 days of supervision and lowered the probability of re-arrest by 23 percent during the first 90 days.
DTAP was created by the King=s County District Attorney=s Office as a hard-nosed prison diversion program that demands frequent drug testing and abstinence while offering non-violent offenders effective treatment and employment assistance. The recidivism of DTAP graduates has been cut in half, and 92% are currently working B up from the 26% who were employed prior to admission.
Combining effective policing with prison diversion programs that provide strict supervision and demand abstinence of non-violent offenders - but also provide drug treatment and jobs in return - saves lives. It is a bipartisan, anti-drug strategy we all can support.
By funding similar programs for addicted but non-violent offenders, we can reserve our prison cages for the true predators, men like those who killed Raymond Pitchford.
-The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.
