Pubdate: Wed, 05 Dec 2007
Source: News-Press (Fort Myers, FL)
Copyright: 2007 The News-Press
Contact:  http://www.news-press.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1133
Author: Bill Cotterell, Florida Capital Bureau Political Editor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

SPREAD OF GROW HOUSES HAS CRIST'S ATTENTION

TALLAHASSEE -- State and federal law-enforcement officials briefed 
Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet today on the scope of Florida's 
drug problems, citing a spread of indoor marijuana cultivation and 
abuse of prescription drugs.

Crist said the state might want to lower the threshold on a law he 
sponsored as a state senator a dozen years ago, allowing prosecutors 
to seek the death penalty for cocaine traffickers who bring 300 
kilograms of cocaine into the state. Florida Department of Law 
Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey and Bill Janes, the head of 
the governor's drug-control policy office, said that's an awfully large amount.

Bailey said he doesn't know of any prosecutors seeking the death 
penalty for "capital cocaine importation."

Mark Trouville, special agent in charge of the Miami office of the 
federal Drug Enforcement Administration, said Miami "continues to be 
the command and control center" for South American drug smuggling. 
But he said a lot of transit routes have been shifted through Mexico 
and the southwestern United States.

Highlands County Sheriff Susan Benton said her county is "drowning" 
in indoor marijuana cultivation. She said small, rural counties need 
help with everything from prosecuting cases to storing large amounts 
of evidence.

Benton said 58 "grow houses" have been busted in her county this year 
and each one costs about $4,000 to dismantle, with specially trained 
deputies and agents taking down lights and air conditioning units.

Officers also said methamphetamine laboratories, illicit sale of 
prescription pills -- especially through Internet pharmacies -- and 
cocaine trafficking, in both crack and powder forms, remain big 
drug-abuse problems for Florida.

"Drug trafficking in Florida has been increasing and is often backed 
by international drug trafficking organizations," said Janes.

Attorney General Bill McCollum, who convened the special Cabinet 
meeting for the briefing, called the situation "eye-opening and disturbing."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom