If Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature were hoping to create jobs, they certainly stimulated the legal profession with two new edicts on drug testing. The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit to block the governor's executive order requiring some 100,000 state employees be tested for drugs. The group also is likely to sue to overturn new legislation that requires all welfare recipients to be screened for controlled substances. If they test positive, they lose their benefits. Like the ACLU, we see these measures as unconstitutional governmental invasions of privacy. [continues 291 words]
ST. PETERSBURG - They give police the location of a drug buy, a lead on a witness, the name of a killer. In exchange, confidential informants get cash or a good word put in with a judge to help reduce a criminal sentence. 'Informants are incredibly necessary to solve crime,' said retired Pasco County sheriff's Lt. Bobby Sullivan, a former vice commander. 'Nobody knows crime like the criminal, but you have to keep in mind that they are a criminal. 'They are on the other side.' The distinction was blurred this week when the FBI arrested St. Petersburg police Detective Anthony Foster on charges that he extorted $8,000 in cash and goods from an informant who was trying to avoid jail time. [continues 943 words]
I recall that Gov. Rick Scott said he was going to sell his interest in the drug-testing firm he owns so as not to have a conflict of interest when mandating testing of state employees. Sounds reasonable. Yet, a reasonable person could infer that he will still profit handsomely because the sale price of the company will be increased to recognize that a steady stream of revenue will be guaranteed. So Scott will make all his profit up front and not have to wait for that revenue stream to pay off. Pretty slick, Mr. Governor. Too bad for you we are not all as stupid as you would prefer. Richard Rogers, Pace [end]
As a candidate, Rick Scott proclaimed that he was not a politician. That claim evaporated early, when he announced a media event to declare the accomplishments of his first week in office. Five months into the job, he already has become a serial politician. Only a serial politician would conduct a three-city bill-signing tour to take credit for legislation that he first opposed and had little to do with getting through the Legislature. On Friday, Gov. Scott went to Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando to tout his signing of HB 7095, a law that strengthens the state's prescription database monitoring program, increases penalties for doctors who overprescribe addictive narcotics and bans doctors from dispensing the drugs. It also requires tracking of wholesale distribution of certain controlled substances and provides $3 million to support state and local law-enforcement efforts to close down "pill mills" that supply prescription painkillers in Florida and throughout the eastern United States. [continues 327 words]
Pressed by a community increasingly affected by prescription drug abuse, Sarasota County commissioners responded Tuesday with a new, strict set of regulations. The rules are designed to preserve access to legitimate pain-management practitioners but keep out illicit businesses -- those that feed a black-market trade in addictive narcotics. The county's new requirements represent a step forward -- if they withstand potential legal challenges and can be properly enforced. The community also should recognize that crackdowns alone cannot solve the growing problem of opiate addiction. Prevention and educational efforts, as well as broader treatment options, are needed. [continues 555 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered California to release 30,000 inmates, ruling that conditions at its overcrowded prisons amounted to cruel-and-unusual punishment. Can the same thing happen in Florida? Probably. With 102,000 inmates, Florida has the third-largest penal system in America. Florida locks up inmates at a rate of 559 per 100,000 residents. That's actually higher than California's 457 inmates per 100,000 population. Gov. Rick Scott and state lawmakers seem to think the solution to overcrowded prisons is privatization -- one of the largest prison-privatization programs in U.S. history. [continues 216 words]
When someone applies for government support, where do they think these funds are coming from? I believe they are tax dollars from every working person in the country. So why shouldn't welfare recipients have to pass a drug test to receive this free money? Many employed people in the country have to pass a drug test to gain employment. If they are injured on the job, companies often require a drug test before they can return to work. Where are the rights of the taxpayers being upheld? If recipients need to receive welfare, they should not be spending money on the purchase of drugs, period. Can someone, except a welfare recipient, tell me where their rights are being violated? The trouble with our welfare system is we give all of this money out and do not hold anybody accountable for it. [continues 66 words]
A Decade of Dependence on Prescription Pills Has a Woman Fighting for Her Sons. More Decisions, and Kids, Are on the Way. Child welfare workers had decided that Shannon could not care for her children. The reasons? She was moving from hotel to hotel and had no stable housing. She was still seeing her abusive boyfriend. And she had a prescription drug problem. In Pinellas and Pasco counties, calls to the child abuse hotline about parents on pain pills have increased 600 percent in the past three years. Some judges and caseworkers report anecdotally that doctor-prescribed drugs affect up to 80 percent of child welfare cases. [continues 2689 words]
Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation into law to crack down on pill mills in Florida. TALLAHASSEE -- After initially fighting one of its key provisions, Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday aimed at cracking down on clinics that frivolously dispense pain pills, feeding a nationwide prescription drug abuse epidemic. "Florida will shed its title as the Oxy Express," Scott said at a bill signing ceremony in Tampa. The signing ended what had been a hard-fought political battle over how to stop an epidemic that kills an estimated seven Floridians daily. [continues 813 words]
The Issue: Welfare Recipients Must Now Submit to Drug Tests. Political Grandstanding: 1; The Good Of The People: 0 That's the scorecard the Florida Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott racked up with their little gamesmanship in pushing through a new welfare drug testing law that is nothing short of punitive, prejudiced and lacking in merit. Under the new measure, anyone seeking state welfare assistance would have to submit to and pay for a drug test, with the costs reimbursed if the applicant passes. [continues 343 words]
FORT LAUDERDALE =AD As Gov. Rick Scott performed a ceremonial signing of a new law cracking down on pill mills Friday, Hellene Grundler sat in the front row grinning with pleasure. It was her turn to smile. In the past, the issue of prescription drug abuse had cost her tears. On Aug. 15, 2009, the same day her daughter gave birth to her grandson, Grundler found her son Derek, 32, dead of an overdose of the powerful painkiller oxycodone in his Broward apartment. [continues 618 words]
Regarding the May 25 editorial about Florida's reputation as the nation's pill pusher: Switzerland faced a similar problem in the early 1990s. Addicts and dealers had converged on Zurich and Bern because of their liberal drug policies. The Swiss tourist image was being tarnished. Overdose deaths had spiked and AIDS was spreading. Zurich's response was twofold: First, they cracked down on dealers, and second, they initiated an "experiment" to expand the availability of opiate substitutes, even heroin. It worked. The average age of registered addicts rose, an indication that kids are not becoming addicted, and the number of patients needing heroin stabilized at 1,300. Use of illegal drugs other than opiates either declined or stayed the same. In 2008 the Swiss people voted over 2-to-1 to make it a permanent part of their national health system. Florida is doing the right thing to crack down. Now we should increase the availability of legal methadone to drive pill mills out of business, permanently. John Chase Palm Harbor [end]
One hundred years ago, opium was the enemy and a bare handful of highly principled Americans persuaded the international community to restrict opium production. They believed that no government should benefit from the opium business, as the British, Spanish and French had done in China, the Philippines and Vietnam, respectively. They were tight on principle, but wrong on logic. They must have believed that if opium supply decreased by, say 25 percent, that addiction would also decrease by 25 percent. But it does not. While many casual users quit because of price and fear of arrest -- addicts don't. They do whatever it takes to get cash for the higher price. They, not the casual users, fuel the wealth and violence of the illegal market. Recent policy experiments in Europe indicate that if we had focused on the addiction (rather than the drug) we would have something to show for our 100-year effort. John Chase Palm Harbor, Fl. [end]
Florida finally is poised to rid itself of its disgraceful but well-deserved reputation as the nation's pill pusher. Armed with a new law that cracks down on "pill mills" that churn out prescriptions for powerful painkillers, the state's surgeon general, Dr. Frank Farmer of Ormond Beach, will lead the fight against a problem he compares to the great epidemics of the past such as polio, yellow fever and deadly strains of influenza. "Throughout history ... there have been certain epidemics we have had to respond to," he told The News-Journal. "How we get rid of the doctors who are using their medical licenses illegally to write these prescriptions will define how we are viewed by history." [continues 621 words]
Regarding 'Fighting pill mills' (Our Views, May 18): For the short run, we have no alternative. But for the long run we should consider other methods. The best example is a Swiss 'experiment' to offer heroin to hard-core addicts while greatly expanding methadone maintenance. It began is 1994 and is now known as HAT (heroin assisted treatment). In a 2008 referendum the Swiss people voted over 2 to 1 to make it a permanent part of their national health system. [continues 110 words]
Federal agents dubbed the case "Operation Cedar Sweep," zeroing in on South Florida head-shop owners of mostly Lebanese descent. Some were suspected of selling "cut" for cocaine and sending profits to the Middle East for possible terrorist activities. But after a two-year FBI investigation with undercover police officers, Miami federal prosecutors lacked evidence to make terrorism support cases. And this week, prosecutors also decided to drop drug-related charges against 27 defendants, many of whom had been detained since their arrests early this year. [continues 864 words]
THE ISSUE: Some Loopholes In Pill Mill Law. Sure, there are loopholes in the new pill mill law, as critics have been quick to point out. That shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. You would be hard-pressed to find much legislation that doesn't have loopholes. The totally perfect bill has yet to be passed. What is important, however, is that the pill mill law was approved by the Florida Legislature after much debate, and it beats the alternative, which would be no bill at all in a state that leads the nation in prescription drug abuse. [continues 304 words]
There is a good chance that before you got your job, you were drug tested first. Now, heads of families who receive welfare will also be. Gov. Rick Scott is expected to sign legislation that would make all welfare recipients pass a drug test before they get their check. The legislation, House Bill 353, has already passed the Florida Senate and House. While I believe that all needy families should get as much help as possible, it is also important that the heads of the families help themselves. [continues 494 words]
The Florida Legislature just passed a bill requiring all welfare recipients to take periodic drug tests to receive their welfare payments. The reasoning for this was that those on welfare receive taxpayer money and we should take every precaution to safeguard that money from possibly being used for buying drugs. Appellate courts have already held laws of this nature unconstitutional because they single out just one group of people. It would appear that the way to correct this problem, and the logical extension of that argument, should be that each legislator should be required to also be part of a random drug testing program. They take a lot more taxpayer dollars per person than any welfare recipient does, and from the votes the majority made in this year's legislative session, it's a reasonable request to make! ERIC WEST, Daytona Beach [end]
MIAMI-Florida's legislature passed a bill that aims to crack down on the notorious "pill mills" that have made the state the epicenter of illegal prescription-drug sales in the country. The bill, which passed both the House and Senate unanimously on Friday, stiffens penalties for doctors who overprescribe medication and for individuals who improperly set up pain-management clinics. It also tightens reporting requirements to a soon-to-be-created drug-monitoring database. Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who had been lambasted by critics in and outside of the state for his opposition to the database, plans to sign the measure into law, said spokesman Brian Burgess. [continues 513 words]
I have been following the 'pill mill' articles with much interest over the last few weeks. The thing I do not understand is that all we read about are deaths and over-prescription. No one ever mentions the thousands of us who now have this medication, and it has been a godsend. We - most of us - have documented medical conditions that are extremely painful. Yet bring a prescription for this medication (written by a Florida M.D.) to almost any pharmacy, and they treat you like a drug addict. [continues 72 words]
Gov. Rick Scott has wisely retreated from his uninformed attempt to kill a statewide prescription drug database. After months of opposition, his Department of Health has signaled it will follow the law and work with a chosen vendor to build the database for certain powerful narcotics. That is an important step toward ending Florida's reputation as the premier destination for narcotic tourism. As soon as midsummer, Florida should join 34 other states that already have databases for drugs such as oxycodone and Xanax. The databases track a prescription's author, dispenser and recipient to try to thwart patients who obtain multiple prescriptions for drugs that can then be sold illegally. Law enforcement officers will have access to the information only if they already have a person under investigation. [continues 387 words]
Florida is one of many states grappling with overcrowded prisons. States facing budget shortfalls are pursuing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. A study by the RAND Corp. found that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs. Incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders along side hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education in antisocial behavior. It's time to declare peace in the failed drug war and begin treating all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is. Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Arlington, Va. [end]
It is disheartening to see presumably serious politicians such as Attorney General Pam Bondi and state Sen. Mike Fasano argue without nuance and without specifics that a prescription drug database represents a meaningful solution to a serious issue. In the early days of the computer age, coders created one of the first catchphrases of the cyber era -- "garbage in, garbage out." Without necessary controls over what goes into a database that by its very nature invades the privacy of those whose personal information is included, it is almost certain that the database will be misused. [continues 299 words]
Who is going to pay for government employees and welfare recipients to be drug tested? We, the taxpayers. Who owns an interest in a drug-testing facility by virtue of his wife? Rick Scott. Who conveyed a $62 million ownership interest in an urgent-care chain to his wife? Scott. Who is using the hard-earned money of Florida taxpayers as a slush fund to increase his net worth? Scott. Lynn Cannella, Tampa [end]
Ed Buss has been on the job for less than two months, but Florida's new secretary of the Department of Corrections is off to a promising start. He is not interested in the tough-on-crime platitudes that have dominated state lawmaking for years. As the former head of the Indiana prison system, Buss knows that reducing a large prison population means keeping low-risk offenders out of prison and helping them to stay out. He would accomplish this by embracing progressive approaches to corrections reform such as ending some mandatory minimum sentencing. Whether Buss can get his agenda through the Legislature and the corrections officers union remains to be seen. Some of his ideas take the wrong direction, but many are worth pursuing. [continues 398 words]
I do not understand why everyone is making such a big deal over drug testing. In the last 15 years I have had three jobs, and each one of them required I take a drug test before being employed. None of them put me in charge of someone's safety, and only one of them was dealA-ing with critical financial information of clients of the business. Why are government employees being put up as 'above' us regular employees when in fact they should be held to higher standards because it is our tax dollars paying their salary? [continues 56 words]
If you have a $62 million investment, representing the biggest single chunk of your $218 million in wealth, and you put it in a trust under your wife's name, does that mean you're no longer involved in the company? Florida Gov. Rick Scott says it does. Scott has aggressively pursued policies like testing state workers and welfare recipients for drugs, switching Medicaid patients to private HMOs and shrinking public health clinics. All these changes could benefit that $62 million investment, but Scott sees no legal conflict between his public role and private investments. [continues 1772 words]
But Supporters of a Prescription Monitoring Database Scoff At His Alternative Approach TALLAHASSEE -- Facing criticism for not supporting a database that many believe would help combat the state's prescription drug epidemic, Gov. Rick Scott on Monday launched his own initiative to fight the problem. At a news conference where he was flanked by Attorney General Pam Bondi and a handful of law enforcement officers, Scott announced a statewide drug trafficking "strike force." Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey will lead the effort, coordinating with local law enforcement agencies. [continues 597 words]
What is the problem of asking those whose salaries we pay through our taxes to submit to a drug test? Do we have to pay for their drug habits? Can we trust those who are responsible for our state's business if they are opposed to drug testing? OK, I know, the ACLU says we're infringing on their rights. How about my rights? Don't I have the right to demand that those whose salaries I pay be clean of drugs? [continues 56 words]
In opposing the establishment of a desperately needed statewide prescription drug database that would reduce crime and save lives, Gov. Rick Scott has cited misguided, ill-informed and unfounded privacy concerns for patient confidentiality. Yet the governor has no problem calling for mandatory drug tests and random drug screens for as many as 100,000 innocent state workers while invading their privacy at a cost of millions of dollars. The lack of intellectual honesty here is remarkable. Scott's intrusion into the private lives of dedicated state employees with no evidence they are illegally using drugs is wrong, ill conceived and likely unconstitutional. But that didn't stop the governor from issuing an executive order last week requiring all new hires in agencies he controls to be drug tested -- and for current employees to be tested at least four times a year. State agencies already can require employees to be tested when they are suspected of using illegal drugs, so there is no safety issue here. [continues 306 words]
It's not just Florida that is experiencing an increase in prescription-drug abuse. The trend is nationwide. Drug tests are part of the problem. Marijuana is the only drug that stays in the human body long enough to make urinalysis a deterrent. This is no secret. Anyone capable of an Internet search can find out how to thwart a drug test. One of the many reasons the American Academy of Pediatrics opposes student drug testing is that drug tests may compel marijuana smokers to switch to harder drugs to avoid testing positive. [continues 96 words]
Florida has become known for prescription drug abuse. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, of the 50 practitioners who dispensed the most oxycodone in the country in 2008-09, 49 of them were in Florida, making Florida a destination for drug traffickers and addicts. Some Florida practitioners are prescribing and dispensing lethal amounts of controlled substances without providing any real medical care. Most Florida doctors are dedicated professionals, but a few disreputable medical professionals are profiting by prescribing and dispensing addictive drugs. These physicians often have no ongoing clinical relationship with patients and provide no general medical care - their only undertaking is to prescribe and dispense these dangerous controlled substances. [continues 491 words]
Gov. Rick Scott continues to express doubts about Florida's prescription drug monitoring program. But there are new signs that opposition is softening to the electronic database, aimed at stemming the state's deadly trade in addictive painkillers. The Legislature's top supporter and opponent of the program are meeting today to hash out their differences. The new head of the Department of Health said Tuesday that he will implement the database, if the 2009 law creating it stands, as expected. [continues 650 words]
Florida Legislature Advances GOP Bills That Make Recipients Pay For Procedures TALLAHASSEE - Bills are advancing in the Florida Legislature requiring all applicants for federal welfare benefits to take and pay for drug testing, despite opposition from Democrats and even some Republicans. In a House committee hearing Wednesday, the bill's sponsor revised it to make it tougher, applying to all applicants for welfare, not just those with criminal records for drug offenses. That brings it in line with the Senate bill, which already applied to all applicants, but also raises more questions about whether the bill is constitutional, according to the legislative staff analysis. [continues 561 words]
You could say there's budding interest in medical marijuana in Tallahassee. Or that the issue is taking root or that State Rep. Jeff Clemens is high on the idea. You could say that, but it would be wrong to. Because while medical marijuana has become a punch line in places like California, where authorities struggle to keep fly-by-night operators from selling weed to anyone and everyone claiming the slightest pain or anxiety, it is a serious matter to Clemens. [continues 523 words]
Nicole Brochu's telling missive, "Florida lawmakers tilting at windmills with medical marijuana bill," reminds us of a century of propaganda. The overwhelming majority of pot smokers do not move to harder drugs and are subject to arrest, asset forfeiture and incarceration for a substance that never killed anyone and might well prove to be the link to a cure for cancer if allowed to be fully studied. Furthermore, we must try something other than fear-mongering and make-work efforts for the law enforcement industrial complex. [continues 66 words]
Keep Pill-Mill Monitoring Database on Florida's Books Good for Senate President Mike Haridopolos, who is standing by his convictions on Florida joining 34 other states that have set up pill-mill monitoring databases to crack down on drug abuse and crime. The Legislature approved the database in 2009 to combat the Sunshine State's reputation as the illegal drug prescription capital of the nation and the rising death toll from abuse of drugs such as oxycodone. Pill-mill doctors illegally prescribe the narcotics to addicts, many of whom come to Florida from out of state to shop for stacks of prescriptions. [continues 188 words]
New State Restrictions on Ex-Convicts' Privileges Raise Troubling Questions A rush job and a big step backwards for voting rights in Florida. That's what came down last week when Gov. Rick Scott, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam and Attorney General Pam Bondi reversed historic civil-rights restoration reforms for nonviolent felons created under former Gov. Crist in 2007. The all-GOP Cabinet's unanimous vote took place in a hastily called emergency session with little notice and a scant 30 minutes of public testimony allowed, including from NAACP officials who opposed the reversal. [continues 257 words]
Re Nicole Brochu's column, "Florida lawmaker's tilting at windmills with medical marijuana bill": There is a real concern that the rules might be so ambiguous that an underage person can get a prescription to, say, treat a hangnail. This is already happening in other states, in spite of good-faith attempts to provide a tightly controlled, heavily regulated environment. The English language is proving to be too ambiguous to draw a clear line between what is legal and what is not. And an ambiguous law often causes more damage than it prevents. [continues 52 words]
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]
Inside Florida
