Truly, what the Mayor’s Working Group on Drug Policy put forward went a long way to reduce the harm associated with addiction. It showed, for example, that crime decreased where methadone was readily available. And that, with between ten thousand and thirteen thousand of Baltimore’s thirty-five thousand intravenous drug users carrying the HIV/AIDS virus, a needle-exchange program had tremendous potential to reduce the rate of transmission in the city. Finally, with 57 percent of drug arrests in 1992 for mere possession, the creation of a drug court could free up resources and allow law
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