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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SUN

According to a Baltimore Sun report ( 6-7-02 ), the Citizen's Planning and Housing Association believes that, "...the key to revising Baltimore's population decline...is making the city's neighborhoods more livable by providing shuttle bus service and local planning funds."

Although shuttle service is certainly a very good idea--in that it serves as a temporary bandage--it doesn't get to the root of the causes for a rapidly shrinking city.  The true problems we need to deal with are poverty and the ( incorrectly named ) "War on Drugs."

This country, the richest in the world, could end poverty tomorrow if we would stop the corporate elite from taking such a large portion from the common till of labor produced wealth.

We could end the murders and most felonies and misdemeanors, dramatically lower HIV and VD, and save significantly on private and public "security" spending if we treated addiction as the medical problem it is.

Addicts should be able to go to a non-profit clinic and purchase, at nominal cost, their drug of choice--thus eliminating profit as a motive for violent behavior and preventing the conversion of new addicts.

The money saved could easily fund full treatment on demand in addition to a national jobs program, reminiscent of the WPA and CCC camp of the 1930's.

Cities could then once again become preferred places to live.

A.  Robert Kaufman

Baltimore, MD 21216