Posted on 05/19/2002 10:42:52 AM PDT by tragic coup
Gov. Jeb Bush called a ballot proposition that would allow some drug offenders to escape imprisonment by entering treatment programs "misleading" and said it would "destroy" Florida's drug court program.
Bush, addressing 45 graduates of Miami-Dade County's drug court Friday, said he was disappointed with the state Supreme Court's decision Thursday to allow the proposition onto the 2004 ballot.
"This amendment would destroy the best drug court system in the country," Bush said in an address simulcast to similar graduation ceremonies statewide. "It would require that first- and second-time offenders, irrespective of what their crime was, be given treatment. What the drug court does is provide services, but also says there's a consequence."
But the Campaign for New Drug Policies, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based organization that is spearheading the proposed "Right to Treatment and Rehabilitation for Non-Violent Drug Offenses," maintains that their proposal does include consequences, in some cases more severe than the penalties doled out by drug courts.
"When you wash out of this program, you go to jail. When you are removed for cause from your treatment program, you go to jail," political director Dave Fratello said. "And if it did replace the drug courts, it would replace them with a bigger system that's virtually identical."
Drug court, which Bush said is more cost-effective and helpful to offenders than prison, is a court-supervised program administered by judges and treatment counselors. The proposed amendment is quite similar, where drug offenders would be spared prosecution or sentencing upon successful completion or 18 months in treatment.
Bush's daughter Noelle has been undergoing treatment since her Jan. 29 arrest on charges of trying to buy Xanax with a fraudulent prescription. Bush, who said his daughter is doing well in her treatment, acknowledged that his daughter's situation will be part of the campaign by those who support the proposed amendment.
"I'm proud to have been part of this movement, to really create a comprehensive strategy to deal with the problems of drug and alcohol abuse in our state," Bush told the graduates.
Fratello's group still needs to collect more than 400,000 signatures before actually being placed on the 2004 ballot. Fratello said Friday that there is no guarantee that the group will collect the required signatures, or even if they will make the attempt to complete the process of reaching the ballot.
"There's no plan for that in place right now," Fratello said.
Jeb is probably the slimiest member of the Bush family.
Bush, addressing 45 graduates of Miami-Dade County's drug court Friday, said he was disappointed with the state Supreme Court's decision Thursday to allow the proposition onto the 2004 ballot.
YES FINALLY LET THE PEOPLE SPEAK OUT ON THIS ISSUE. END THE DRUG WAR! IT IS WASTING OUR TAX MONEY AND IT WASTING THE LIVES OF MILLIONS OF AMERICANS WHO SIT IN JAILS WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF EARLY RELEASE UNDER FEDERAL LAWS. I FOR ONE FIND THIS STORY OUT OF FLORIDA - GOOD NEWS!
Tell your family, friends and loved ones that this MUST NOT STAND.
Should this apply to politico's families also?
THE DRUG WAR IS A WASTE OF MONEY, END IT NOW AND TAKE AWAY THE PROFIT MOTIVE!!!
Just sign on the dotted line to NEVER ask anybody, including your health plan, auto insurance company, and especially not the tax payers of this country, to pay ONE DIME for the consequences of your choice.
What MUST NOT STAND is deliberate
efforts to keep items from coming to a vote.
This isn't a theocracy, yet.
Why? Because he doesn't favor the socialist-libertarian "solution" to drug abuse, i.e., coddle abusers, treat them as victims, and rehabilitate them on the public dime?
Good!
I'm against both prison AND treatment for drug users. Just leave people alone who are leaving others alone. If someone commits an actual crime while on drugs, then arrest and prosecute them. But drugs in and of themselves should not be criminal, but they also should not "entitle" anyone to any free treatment.
Absolutely. No slack when it comes to drugs. NO SLACK.
I agree with you statement 100% It is not the business of the State or Federal Government to determine whether I should or should not get high. If one commits a crime while high then arrest them for that crime...but not for being high.
And why are we putting everyone under a BIG UMBRELLA here? What happened to judging on a case by case basis? That way we get the dealers and drug runners off the street, for at least a number of years. They are the culprits. We also on a case by case basis, get the offenders who are DANGERS TO SOCIETY off the streets; like x-42.
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