The poor performance of this effort only 18 properties acquired, in an average of 319 days, with 741 properties still pending demonstrates the need for the new Office of Acquisition, which we will have up and running next month to streamline this cumbersome process into a one-stop shop. In Baltimore You know the problem. The DEA says that Baltimore has the worst heroin and cocaine problems in the United States. Police estimate that up to 90 percent of all crimes committed in our city are drug-related. It s all these things.
Drug addiction impacts virtually every area of life in our city.
Almost one in ten of our citizens have a substance abuse problem we have about 60,000 addicts in a city of 635,000. If we don t make dramatic progress in reducing addiction, we can make some progress on many fronts but it will not be complete and it will not be lasting. Today, we have only 6,515 treatment slots which can accommodate about 18,000 clients per year. This falls far short of what we need. We have set a goal of 13,000 slots to treat 35,000 people, to begin to make an impact on our problem.