If Bill McCollum wants to throw more people in jail for marijuana, then how does he propose to pay for it? By raising his taxes, raising your property taxes or releasing violent criminals early to make room for nonviolent drug offenders?

The war on drugs is a failed, racist, culture war resulting only in the United States having over a million people behind bars, about half of them for nonviolent crimes such as drugs, and a disproportionate number of them being people of color.

Ron Kuhler, Lutz

[end]

A Police-Involved Shooting Outside a Busy Davie Home Depot Leaves One Person Dead

One person was shot and killed late Friday at a Davie Home Depot in an undercover police drug investigation.

The shooting occurred about 8 p.m. in the parking lot of the giant home improvement store at 2300 S. University Dr. in the Tower Shops, a busy strip mall with dozens of popular retail stores on University Drive, just south of Interstate 595.

Federal DEA agents had been working a cocaine investigation, said Jeannnette Moran, spokeswoman for the DEA.

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Apparently California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was only joking when he recently said marijuana "is not a drug. It's a leaf". I certainty hope so.

Statistics show marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in America, with more than half of our young adults between ages of 19-28 saying they have used it. But today's marijuana is no Woodstock rerun; it's potent and dangerous.

The most alarming aspect of marijuana's resurgence is the much greater potency of today's plant particularly the hydroponic variety. In the 1960s and 70s, the average THC content (THC produces the high and causes physiological problems) in marijuana was approximately four percent. The THC level in the hydroponic marijuana grown today in Florida has tested up to 30 percent, and the level continues to rise through plant cloning by growers.

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Equal justice under the law still remains elusive for 20,000 people serving federal sen-tences for crack cocaine, de-spite the U.S. Sentencing Commission's long-awaited reform of federal sentencing guidelines for crack, effective Nov. 1.

These prisoners are currently serving sentences so harsh that they will no longer be imposed on future defendants, but they are ineligible for relief because the new guideline is not yet retroactive. People serving mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine under the very laws that created the 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine are also not affected by the new guideline. Only Congress can change mandatory minimum laws.

The Sentencing Commission should make the new guideline retroactive and Congress must act decisively and now to reform mandatory sentencing laws.

Brenda H. Snipes

Riverview

[end]

A Roundup Targets A List Of 66 In Hopes Of Snuffing Crime Here.

LEALMAN- Sheriff's cruisers were lined up like airplanes waiting to take off at a busy airport.

As one would take off, another one, two or three cruisers would pull into the parking lot at Lealman Intermediate School. The passengers were not happy travelers off to have a fun-filled holiday. They were alleged drug dealers stopping briefly at the school parking lot for processing before being whisked off to the Pinellas County Jail.

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Does moving open-air drug markets from one Melbourne neighborhood to the next constitute drug war victory? Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking.

For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime.

Drug policy should focus not on the task of eliminating drugs, but rather on reducing the death, disease, crime and suffering associated with both drug abuse and enforcement.

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DAYTONA BEACH -- People hooked on drugs and alcohol wait weeks and in some cases months for treatment, while waiting lists grow.

And while there are more than 50 open slots for addiction treatment in Volusia and Flagler counties, the agencies are unable to fill them.

Some rooms have been empty for a year at Reality House, which can serve another 40 people with substance abuse problems. But the money isn't there to fill the facility because most of those who would take those places can't pay for treatment.

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DAYTONA BEACH -- Funding for innovative substance abuse treatment programs that help hundreds of local people a year may be lost in the future as the state budget tightens, local officials fear.

As the governor signed budget cuts earlier this week to close a $1 billion state shortfall, local programs escaped unharmed. But next year they may not be as lucky.

Local agencies are worried about a proposal to the governor in August by the state Department of Children & Families that could cut millions of dollars next year in state funding. The money came partly from aggressive lobbying by local agencies to help run programs, including one for pregnant mothers with substance abuse problems.

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Arrests And Drug House Busts Are on the Rise

The war on drugs is often so secretive that arrests are not always made public. Sometimes, the court system does not create dockets for them. Their search warrants are sealed by judges.

The stakes are that high.

"We've always had grow houses but nothing like now. Every jurisdiction in the state is getting nailed -- it's a new phenomenon," said Charlotte County Chief Deputy Bill Cameron. "It has become almost epidemic."

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McCollum - Crack Down on Sophisticated Growing Operations

Apparently California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was only joking when he recently said marijuana "is not a drug. It's a leaf." I certainly hope so. Statistics show marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in America, with more than half of our young adults between the ages of 19 to 28 saying they have used it. But today's marijuana is no Woodstock rerun; it's potent and dangerous.

The most alarming aspect of marijuana's resurgence is the much greater potency of today's plant, particularly the hydroponic variety. In the 1960s and '70s, the average THC content (THC produces the high and causes physiological problems) in marijuana was approximately 4 percent. The THC level in the hydroponic marijuana grown today in Florida has tested up to 30 percent, and the level continues to rise through plant cloning by growers. This increase in potency has not only increased the dangerous physical effects of the drug, but also the addictive nature of marijuana use. Experts believe that the rate of addiction among daily marijuana users is now higher than that among daily alcohol drinkers.

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ISSUE: Free Trade Pact Stymied by Violence Against labor

Concerns about violence against organized labor in Colombia are valid. But so are concerns about violence, in general, in the South American country.

In fact, there's a reason why the term la violencia has been often used in Colombia to refer to decades of persistent violence. It's because, whether driven by a guerilla army determined to topple the government, or drug lords to defend their illicit trade, Colombians have suffered greatly as a result of the violence.

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Melbourne's Bleak Streets Ravaged by Crime, but There's Reason to Hope

It would be easy to give up on a neighborhood like Melbourne's crime-torn Booker T. Washington, where drug deals and gunshots pass for ambiance.

Starting today, FLORIDA TODAY examines the troubled neighborhood in a series of stories, along with narrated photo galleries and videos on floridatoday.com.

Here's some of the gritty background on life in Booker T.

# In the past two years, there have been 294 calls to police regarding drug complaints in the small area, home to fewer than 600 people, many of whom are poor and live in dilapidated housing.

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Authorities Say Drug Cultivators Are Keeping Their Crops Small to Avoid Felony Charges

Marijuana cultivators in Southwest Florida know that numbers are a very important component to their business plan.

But instead of focusing on the bottom line, they are planting smaller crops to skirt drug trafficking laws -- and bypass potential prison time.

Law enforcement officials say drug traffickers' savvy has made it harder to prosecute them, contributing to the proliferation of marijuana "grow houses" in the area.

But help in the fight against the facilities may be on the way. The Florida attorney general and two state lawmakers have created legislation to stiffen the penalty for marijuana cultivation, lowering the number of plants needed to charge someone with drug trafficking, a first-degree felony.

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Week Is Dedicated To Educating Students About Living Drug Free Lives

Last year, a Collier County child went to NCH Downtown Naples Hospital every 36 hours for a drug overdose.

It is a scary statistic, but what is scarier is that two years ago, a child 18 or younger went to the same hospital every third day, according to Circuit Court Judge Lauren Brodie.

"The time a child is going to the hospital has been cut in half in one year," she said. "The average age a child tries drugs in Collier County is 12."

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There are many tragedies in our War On Drugs, and I have long considered the case of pain patient Richard Paey to be one of the most egregious. While his case is unfortunately not uncommon, it is extremely rare when a tragedy like Paey's turns back on itself and becomes a victory.

With the full pardon of Paey, Gov. Charlie Crist and Florida Cabinet members Attorney General Bill McCollum, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson have "voted their conscience" and made a brave statement.

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I'm writing about an October 11 story headlined "John Walters speaks on drug eradication."

John Walters is essentially the head cheerleader for the drug war bureaucracy. Like all bureaucrats, his goal is the continuation and expansion of his bureaucracy. All bureaucracies want more power and more money.

The drug-war bureaucracy is no exception.

The only way to achieve victory in the so called drug war is to re-legalize all of our now illegal drugs so they can be sold in licensed, regulated and taxed businesses.

Victory is not the goal of the drug war. Victory in the drug war would mean that the drug war bureaucracy is out of business.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

TAMPA - Brandon Erwin and Andrew Culver traveled together in the glitzy drug world, and both eventually wanted out.

Culver told his mother he had an appointment to see a psychologist who might help him get over his cocaine addiction.

Erwin traded his drug-dealing, celebrity-studded life, serving professional athletes and other VIP customers at the Blue Martini nightclub, for Bible studies and family.

For both men, their decisions to break free of drugs came too late.

On Wednesday, Erwin, 30, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, the minimum term for his conviction for criminal culpability in Culver's drug-overdose death.

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When it comes to treating substance abuse, Florida can pay now or pay later. In the quest to trim the state budget, lawmakers are gambling on later.

The state prison system has been told to trim $3 million from its drug treatment programs. And cuts to community treatment centers loom large because of state-mandated cuts in local government spending.

It's politically easy to cut treatment programs for drug and alcohol abusers, since they have no advocacy group beyond the caregivers who see the difference that treatment can make.

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Crime is simply out of control here in Pensacola. It's not the fault of the Police Department. It's the fault of this "thug life" culture we have that glorifies drug use and crime.

Point in case, I had a man try to get into my truck on Pace Boulevard a few months back while I was stopped at a red light. I have no idea who the guy was or what he wanted, but I'm sure it wasn't good.

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One of the first cases the Supreme Court heard when it began its current term involves the sentencing disparity between offenders caught trafficking in crack cocaine versus the powdered form.

Under the current law enacted in 1986, a conviction for possessing 5 grams of the highly addictive crack cocaine carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, while those caught with powder cocaine have to possess at least 500 grams to receive the mandatory minimum. Because more than 80 percent of those sentenced on the federal level for crack cocaine are black, the justices will decide if the law is discriminatory and whether judges are bound by sentencing guidelines.

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