More Bureaucracy For Those Who've Paid Their Debts to Society Rick Scott, the governor who wants to remove regulatory hurdles, has helped put a big roadblock in the path of freed felons hoping to fully participate in civic life. The governor and Cabinet, sitting as Florida's executive clemency board, voted last week to toughen the process nonviolent felons must go through to get their civil rights restored. Before this change, the state used a reformed, streamlined process to restore rights for nonviolent felons who completed their sentence, finished probation and made full restitution. [continues 453 words]
Rick Scott, the governor who wants to remove regulatory hurdles, has helped put a big roadblock in the path of freed felons hoping to fully participate in civic life. The governor and Cabinet, sitting as Florida's executive clemency board, voted March 9 to toughen the process nonviolent felons must go through to get their civil rights restored. Before this change, the state used a reformed, streamlined process to restore rights for nonviolent felons who completed their sentence, finished probation and made full restitution. [continues 453 words]
Florida is considering a pharmaceutical data-base to find and prosecute pill mill operators. They flourish here because many other states find and prosecute pill mills. So if the United States stamped out all pill mills, would opiate addicts finally be forced to 'get clean'? Hardly. It would just drive suppliers to Mexico, giving the cartels an additional product to sell to Americans. A better solution would be to treat opiate addiction like the sickness it is. Switzerland has been doing that since 1994, and in 2008 voted overwhelmingly to make the policy permanent. It pays for itself in better public health and reduced crime. Officially it is called 'heroin assisted treatment,' available to addicts willing to sign up with the state. The Swiss have few pill mills because there is little demand for illegal pills. We should try it. John Chase, Palm Harbor [end]
State Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, and Rep. Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs, should be applauded for introducing Senate Bill 1334 and House Bill 917 to eliminate mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug trafficking (Friday article). Inflexible sentencing laws have been inefficient, costly and unfair. Department of Corrections data from 2008 show that nearly 6,000 people were serving mandatory minimum drug sentences in Florida prisons, at a cost of nearly $120 million annually. Of those, 544 were prescription-drug offenders - many of them addicts - whose mandatory minimum sentences can reach 25 years, even for a first-time, nonviolent offender. Incarcerating these prisoners will cost Floridians nearly $1 billion. [continues 135 words]
Reintegrating convicted criminals into our communities has long been a problem. Prisons are warehouses for many nonviolent offenders, drug addicts, the mentally ill and the poor. This week's action by the Clemency Board, made up of the governor and the Florida Cabinet ("Wait for felons' rights reinstated"), which impedes the timely restoration of rights for those who have completed their sentences, should have been carefully scrutinized. Given our sluggish economy, lifting obstacles to employment should be a priority. Permitting ex-offenders to vote would help them feel they have a stake in our communities. Policies that sound tough on crime often produce unforeseen results that contribute to crime. I do not question the motives of our distinguished attorney general, Pam Bondi, who first raised this issue, but I do question the rationale for her proposal. West Palm Beach Editor's note: Barry Cohen is a Palm Beach County judge. [end]
Accept Company's Offer and Implement Monitoring Program Maybe the opponents of a statewide system for monitoring the prescription of high-powered narcotics are holding out for more money from the pharmaceutical industry. It's doubtful. But that strategy is the only logical reason for Gov. Rick Scott and House Speaker Dean Cannon to oppose implementation of the system. Last year, in response to rising numbers of deaths related to prescription painkillers and Florida's status as the go-to state for drug buyers, the Legislature passed a law that calls for a prescription-drug monitoring program. The strong consensus among legitimate pain-management specialists, drug-abuse experts and law enforcement officials is that a statewide data base is the most important component of an effective monitoring program. Legislatures in a majority of the states have created data bases and reported declines in drug-abuse problems - as Florida has experienced increases. [continues 145 words]
Scott, Cannon Turn Backs on Killers Maybe the opponents of a statewide system for monitoring the prescription of high-powered narcotics are holding out for more money from the pharmaceutical industry. It's doubtful. But that strategy is the only logical reason for Gov. Rick Scott and House Speaker Dean Cannon to oppose implementation of the system. Last year, in response to increasing numbers of deaths related to prescription painkillers, babies born addicted to the drugs and Florida's status as the go-to state for drug buyers, the Legislature passed a law that calls for a prescription-drug-monitoring program. [continues 341 words]
On Feb. 24, Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood, after a large drug raid in Daytona Beach, was quoted in The News-Journal as follows: "We're never going to arrest our way out of this problem in this neighborhood. I can go in here and arrest and arrest and arrest . You're in a war, and you're never not going to be in a war." On March 6, Flagler County Sheriff Don Fleming, in a guest column, wrote, "There is big business in illegal drugs and irresponsible dissemination of drugs in this country is destroying today's youth. What can we expect of the youth of tomorrow if we do not stop this widespread disease of addiction?" Note the operative term "disease." [continues 185 words]
Drug-Related Deaths Claimed Some Suspects in the Pinellas Drug Ring The investigation started last summer. Detectives uncovered a sophisticated drug syndicate that dispatched hundreds of "runners" into pharmacies to use forged prescriptions to get pills. Over the course of several months, deputies obtained arrest warrants for 94 people as they sought to bring down an organization responsible for trafficking at least $4 million in pills. But by the time they started arresting people in a sweep on Tuesday, five of the people they were looking for had died. [continues 631 words]
The medical marijuana debate is coming to Florida. At least, that's the hope of one state legislator. Florida Rep. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, is introducing a bill that would put legalizing marijuana for medical purposes up for a statewide vote. Clemens told a local radio station that he considers himself a full "de-criminalization advocate" who would one day like to see marijuana legalized for all Floridians, but that is not his intention with this first effort. The bill, which does not yet have a number, would merely address medical marijuana. [continues 593 words]
Plan to Toughen Felons' Rights-Restoration Process Is Biased and Unfair In record time, Florida's Cabinet brought us back to Jim Crow-era laws Wednesday. Unanimously, the Cabinet undid a judicious measure that had partially streamlined the voting-rights restoration process for tens of thousands of felons convicted of nonviolent crimes. The all-Republican Cabinet -- Gov. Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam -- last month expressed support for Ms. Bondi's proposal to repeal the voting-rights reforms instituted for some felons in 2007. On Wednesday, at a rushed Cabinet meeting the group of four made it official. [continues 470 words]
We know today, June 7, Gov. Rick Scott signed a law requiring state welfare recipients to pass a mandatory drug test before receiving benefits. Now, it is obvious people's opinions fall on partisan lines, such as liberals wanting the ACLU to object to the new law and try and stop it in court. Here is my response to the bill. Any Floridian who accepts cash from the state should undergo drug testing -- beginning with Rick Scott himself. He is a Floridian, he accepts cash from the state, he should follow the same law. [continues 101 words]
Being designated as a major drug trafficking corridor could mean more resources for Brevard County law enforcement agencies as well as federal funding for the war against drugs. Sheriff Jack Parker is seeking to include the Space Coast as part of the Central Florida HIDTA, or High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, due to its proximity to Interstate 95. "Our location along this major thoroughfare, coupled with one of the busiest commercial and tourism related seaports in the country, puts us in the unfortunate position of serving as a conduit for illegal drug trafficking," Parker wrote in a proposal letter. "The I-95 corridor is a major traffic artery for the entire East Coast and serves as a well-traveled route for drug trafficking organizations based in South Florida to the entire eastern seaboard." [continues 329 words]
A parent's worst nightmare is having to bury a child. That nightmare is becoming a tragic reality for far too many families in Florida. On average, seven people die from prescription drug abuse every day in Florida. These are not just numbers. Garrett Harney's last words of despair to his mother were "Mom, I can't be helped." Garrett overdosed on Oxycontin and Xanax in 2006. His mother, a Sarasota resident, is now trying to help save lives by spreading the important message that prescription drug abuse is a deadly serious problem in Florida. [continues 454 words]
I just finished reading the Feb. 27 article regarding battling pill mills. There are statistics regarding "seven Floridians dying every day in 2009, on average, from overdoses involving prescription drugs. 2,488 total deaths." It struck me as a sad notion, but completely pale in comparison to the 440,000 people who die each year in the United States alone (according to the World Health Organization) from smoking cigarettes. Is anyone rushing to shut down cigarette makers? No! Is anyone trying to set up a tracking system as a weapon against the narcotics in cigarettes? No! Why? Because it is perfectly legal to kill yourself with tobacco. It is also fairly easy to say that you can also kill your spouse with second-hand smoke and put your childrens', friends' and complete strangers' health at risk with the same. [continues 88 words]
In 1919, the United States went dry. The great experiment of Prohibition began. It was a great "success." It criminalized a large part of the population who still wanted to drink and created organized criminals. It was 14 years before the country decided that Prohibition was a bad idea with decidedly worse, unintended consequences. Upon its repeal, those thousands of gangsters who thrived under Prohibition were out of work; however, our government then banned certain drugs. And the war on drugs has been as successful as Prohibition in keeping the suppliers wealthy. The war is going so well that it stretches from the poppy fields of Afghanistan to the coca and marijuana fields of South America, Mexico and North Port. Our prisons are full of users and dealers; a shooting war is going on in Mexico and East Los Angeles, and the billions of dollars, pesos, euros, etc., spent each year to stop the drug trade are going down a black hole. Many of the people holding up banks, robbing convenience stores, or breaking into houses are doing it to buy drugs. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different outcome each time. I think it's just dumb. Rick Garms Englewood [end]
Ex-cons like Vinny Colangelo are barred from certain business pursuits. Felons can't get a license in Florida as a pest-control operator. Colangelo can't be a private detective or paramedic or title insurance agent or bail bondsman or labor union business agent. He can forget about employment with the Florida Lottery. Or qualifying as a notary. "In Florida, this guy couldn't own a liquor store," said Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti. Yet according to the DEA, Vincent Colangelo, who couldn't kill bugs, serve cocktails or tail a cheating husband, could operate seven pain clinics and a pharmacy in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. His pill mills peddled more than 660,000 doses of oxycodone in just two years. The feds calculated Vinny's proceeds at $22,392,391. [continues 589 words]
Less government. Less state regulation. Less government intrusion in our every day lives. These are important values we share. However, these values should never trump efforts that save thousands of lives each year. We understand that the fiscal challenge our state faces requires a thorough and thoughtful review of all state programs and initiatives. However, it is important that state leaders weigh programs like the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program before cutting, or eliminating, them because in this instance, the PDMP will save thousands of lives. [continues 436 words]
SARASOTA -- U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, announced today that he was proposing legislation designed to halt the rampant growth in Florida of bogus pain clinics, or "pill mills." Saying "drug dealers posing as doctors" are able to operate lucrative clinics that dispense addictive prescription drugs, Buchanan outlined a plan that would toughen penalties and fines. The legislation also calls for using assets seized from pill mill operators to fund prescription drug databases in states like Florida. Another feature of the proposed legislation is the reclassification of narcotic drugs that are most abused in order to render them more more difficult to obtain, Buchanan said. [continues 522 words]
TAVARES -- Two mothers who lost sons to overdoses of prescription painkillers applauded county commissioners for imposing new restrictions on pain-management clinics that dispense the medicine. "I hope this saves lives," said Ellen Tidwell of Clermont, whose 17-year-old son, Justin, died from a prescription-drug overdose in July 2009, a month before beginning his senior year at South Lake High School. Tidwell, who also has called attention to the problem on her Facebook page, stood alongside Kim and Michael Cronin of Howey-in-the-Hills, whose son, Paul Cronin, 32, overdosed on hydrocodone in October 2009. [continues 401 words]
Inside Florida
