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As a senior member of the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, and as Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Drug Policy, I have worked for a more balanced, more effective and more efficient national drug strategy. I understand that, to achieve our objectives, we must focus more heavily upon drug treatment.
Nowhere are our efforts toward this goal more critical than here in Baltimore City.
Tens of thousands of our neighbors are addicted to illegal drugs. More than 80 percent of those arrested for crimes in our City fail the drug tests that they are given at their initial booking.
We also know that, each year, more than 9,000 of these incarcerated men and women finish serving their sentences and are released from prison, returning to our community.
Drug addiction is a challenge that we must meet and overcome. Both the health of our community and the public's safety depend upon our success.
These realities are why I invited Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy ("ONDCP"), to meet with some of Baltimore's drug treatment experts last week. I wanted our front-line treatment providers and drug court officials to have an opportunity to share their expertise directly with President Obama's point man on national drug policy.
Over the years, we have learned that locking up drug users without helping them to overcome their addiction is futile. We also have learned that effective drug treatment works, both in terms of public health policy and with respect to its impact upon public safety.
I often hear doubts expressed about the effectiveness of federally-supported drug treatment programs. Since patients often "relapse" back into drug use, at least temporarily, critics are quick to assert that the treatment programs have failed.
However, as the research findings in "Steps to Success: Baltimore Drug and Alcohol Treatment Outcomes," demonstrated more than seven years ago, what may appear to be slow, halting and uneven progress on the part of individual patients can add up to significant movement toward a more drug-free community.
In 2002, our blue-ribbon research team drawn from Morgan State University, Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland School of Medicine concluded that providing appropriate and effective drug treatment leads to dramatic reductions - overall - in the rate of substance abuse, criminal activity and high-risk behaviors associated with the spread of HIV and hepatitis.
We also have learned over the years that our national drug strategy must support a continuum of treatment - from the first days after any arrest to an offender's re-entry back into our community.
Working with federal financial help, Maryland has built upon that knowledge. During our briefing last week, Senator Ben Cardin, Mayor Sheila Dixon and I were able to update ONDCP Director Kerlikowske on the "continuum of care" that now helps many of Baltimore's drug offenders move forward on the path toward recovery - even before their release and return to the community.
Whenever possible, the first step for non-violent offenders should be our Drug Treatment Courts.
We were able to demonstrate to Director Kerlikowske that the more than $1.5 million that the Washington Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Program he oversees is investing this year in our City's drug treatment courts is making a difference.
Evidence-based testing has shown that the work of drug treatment courts reduce drug usage at discharge, support continued treatment in our community and increase the employment of participants upon their re-entry into our community.
For other addicted offenders who must await trial in the Baltimore Detention Center, thousands are now receiving medically supervised drug detoxification. Those who were enrolled in methadone maintenance programs prior to their arrest are receiving continuation of that care.
When drug offenders near the date of their release, the State's Pre-Release Division provides a medication-assisted therapy regiment with linkages to community providers to help them plan for continued recovery within the community.
Finally, upon their re-entry, both Medicaid and our Federally Qualified Health Centers are involved in protecting the treatment gains that those in recovery have achieved.
Director Kerlikowske responded very positively to our presentations. "It is not because Baltimore has more problems than the average city [that I am here]," he observed. "It's because Baltimore has more solutions."
I agree. The substantial progress that Maryland has made in treating addiction as a disease is a major reason why our State Maryland has received nearly $48 million in Federal Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant funding during the last 18 months.
I must also acknowledge, however, that far more needs to be done. The drug addiction challenge that we face in Baltimore is so pervasive that we are not yet able to offer publicly funded drug treatment to everyone who so desperately needs that help.
That is why I was gratified that President Obama's Budget for FY2010 will triple the federal funding for drug treatment in our nation's prisons. This action reflects a renewed emphasis by the new Administration (including Director Kerlikowske) on the importance of treatment as a critical element of national drug control policy.
I will continue to fight for expanded access to effective drug treatment. Public resources invested in save us money - as much as $7 for every $1 that we invest.
Yet, there is an even more important human equation involved.
The lives of those we love are at stake. Addictive drugs cannot be allowed to destroy our community.
- The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.
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