I’m anxiously watching and waiting to see what kind of mayor Sheila Dixon, our fair city’s unelected executive, will decide she wants to be. As the city’s chief executive, the mayor is ultimately responsible for local law enforcement, and his or her approach to crime fighting has a major impact on the lives of the city’s residents. In Bodymore, Murderland, where the annual homicide rate still hovers close to 300, a city that the FBI has called “the heroin capital of the country,” law enforcement is a Sisyphean task, especially as police are expected to continue fighting a war on drugs that was lost before it began. In Baltimore, the drugs didn’t just win, they’ve established a formidable occupation force that has won the hearts and minds of many citizens, and accepted with quiet resignation by the rest. Former police chief Ed Norris has argued repeatedly that “you can’t arrest your way out of the drug problem.” With 10% of the population addicted to heroin, and a vast number of crackheads as well, trying to use police to solve the problem is the black-market equivalent of the “supply-side economics” so loved by Republicans, who quietly ignore the fact that supply-side economics don’t work, and have only ever led to recession and economic ruin.
Given the chronic, intractable drug situation in Baltimore, people are increasingly advocating (or at least open to the idea of) decriminalization. O’Malley wasn’t among them, but Dixon is often viewed as being closer to his predecessor, three-term mayor Kurt Schmoke. I doubt any candidate will come right out in favor of decriminalization prior to the election (although Schmoke did, and he was re-elected twice!), but as this article from the Baltimore Sun indicates, Dixon also won’t come out against decriminalization; combine this with the fact that she views drug treatment, rather than punishment, as the best response to this problem, and it looks like we might see a more reasonable (and successful) approach to public safety (and public health) this year.
In a future post, I’ll look at her recently released outline of her crime-fighting strategy, and in the coming weeks I’ll profile some of the other contenders in this fall’s election.
Mayor says treatment is best
By Annie Linskey
Sun reporter
Originally published May 3, 2007
Mayor Sheila Dixon yesterday declined to say whether she supports decriminalizing the use of illegal drugs after being asked three times about her views on the topic at a news conference.“Drug addiction is a health issue, and drug treatment and providing support services to families is so significant and key,” she said in response to a question from a television reporter. “That is where you break the cycles.”
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Police say that much of the city’s violence is fueled by the drug trade in Baltimore, and some believe that decriminalizing drug use would drastically reduce killings and shootings because crews would no longer fight over territory and money.In 1988, former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke created a national stir when, during his first year in office, he advocated the decriminalization of illegal drugs. He was re-elected twice.
Yesterday, when Dixon was pressed to clarify her views, she said: “I already made my point. Provide people the resources they need.”
A third reporter followed up, and again asking whether Dixon supports decriminalizing drugs.
“I understood the question,” Dixon said. “For those individuals who are drug addicted, services are needed to treat and deal with the families so this cycle can be treated.”
Anthony McCarthy, Dixon’s spokesman, later noted that as mayor, Dixon does not have a role in passing state and federal drug laws.
City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell, a candidate for mayor in this fall’s election, declined to comment yesterday.
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