LOS ANGELES�The National Alliance for Positive Action came out August 23 in protest of two Los Angeles billboards that advertise a program which offers $200 cash to drug addicts who accept long-term birth control.

At a press conference, group founder Dr. Earl Ofari-Hutchinson, an author and talk-show host, and Najee Ali of Project Islamic H.O.P.E., called for an immediate removal of the signs located at West Slauson Avenue and South La Brea Avenue. They said the signs were racist targets for Latinos and Blacks, and asked the organization responsible for them to provide, instead, more treatment, education and prevention plans for women who have drug problems.

Not so, according to Barbara Harris who founded Children Requiring A Caring Kommunity (C.R.A.C.K.) which sponsored the billboards. "Everybody saw the billboards in a Black neighborhood and assumed that it was only in their neighborhood. That same billboard was in Beverly Hills a few months ago and in the Valley. We don�t target any neighborhoods," she stated. C.R.A.C.K.�s website lists a client base Black women, 24, Whites, 26 and Hispanics, 11.

Mrs. Harris stated that she does not know or care what neighborhoods the billboards are in and that C.R.A.C.K., a non-profit organization created to prevent child abuse through birth defects or deaths of babies born to crack-addicted mothers, has no control over where the large, rectangular advertisements are placed. "We only pay $500 a month as opposed to the $6,000 that a business would pay, and they are put where space is available," she said.

Mr. Ali stated that the group thought that Blacks were being unfairly targeted and that by sterilizing Black women, sponsors were attempting to reduce the birth rate and engage in genocide. In recent developments, however, the group�s position on the billboards changed slightly after conducting more research into the program and future protests against the billboards and C.R.A.C.K. have been halted.

"We�re satisfied now that Barbara Harris and her organization are certainly making a committed and good faith effort to deal with the serious problem of drug abuse not only within the African-American community, but in general," said Dr. Hutchinson. He said that the National Alliance, a multi-racial, multi-ethnic organization are committed to raising cutting edge public policy issues such as the prison crisis, poverty, police abuse, welfare issues, and the subject issue of drug abuse. "We support that effort 100% and even though we do not actively oppose the efforts of drug abuse and prevention by C.R.A.C.K., we still have deep reservation about the option of sterilization for substance abuse users. We feel that there are better methods to deal with the problem of drug abuse than sterilization," he added.

"I am still against the billboards, no matter who�s neighborhood they�re in," said Mr. Ali, speaking for Project Islamic H.O.P.E.

Of the 61 women treated by C.R.A.C.K. via Norplant, tubal ligations, Depo-Provera, or IUDs, Mrs. Harris said that the number of collective pregnancies was 446 of which 169 were aborted, 277 were brought to term, 45 died, and 185 were placed in foster homes. She is adamant that her concern is for the children and not about public opinion. "Nothing I will say will change the opinion that Blacks are targeted," she stated.

Community response to the program and signs is varying. Local radio talk show callers expressed grief and sorrow, calling C.R.A.C.K. a blatant act of genocide; others said it was a timely deterrent to ending the cycle of "crack babies". "What�s next? Ugly people?" said a male caller upset about the billboards. "We need to deal with this problem one-on-one because sterilization is not the solution," he said. A female caller angrily argued for the program saying, "The children have no choice. These women do!" An average of callers suggested spending the money on more education, prevention and treatment.

In a study at Brown University of school-age children prenatally exposed to crack or cocaine, researchers estimate that defects in IQ and language development will occur in about 80,550 cocaine-exposed children with special education to prevent their failures in school costing $352 million per year nationwide. The research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was an analysis of eight longitudinal studies of school-age, prenatally exposed children.

According to Dr. Alan I. Leshner, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute of Health, funding spent on treatment saves significantly more money in treatment and other costs to society.

"Children who are exposed prenatally to crack clearly are not doomed to failure, but these findings indicate that a significant percentage do develop problems with learning and language skills that require remedial attention," he stated. "That fact emphasizes the need for more drug prevention efforts, particularly directed at women of child-bearing age."