Apparently what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander In a 30-page order, a U.S. District Judge in Orlando ruled Tuesday that drug testing welfare recipients in the State of Florida is illegal. The decision, specifically, made permanent an earlier, temporary ban by another judge. The initial lawsuit was brought primarily by the American Civil Liberties Union. It contended that drug testing welfare recipients is an unconstitutional search and seizure. The judge said, in part, that she found "no set of circumstances under which the warrantless, suspicionless drug testing at issue in this case could be constitutionally applied." [continues 476 words]
Editor: On the front page of The St. Augustine Record on Friday, you ran an article about the four graduates of the St. Johns County Adult Drug Treatment Division, "Judge calls drug court graduates inspiring," and highlighted the program's many accomplishments. The quotes of a few of the graduates is even further proof of the damage that drugs are plaguing our society with. Yet, on the front of the Sports section on the same day, you published an article, "Sheriff chasing Phelps is chasing fool's gold" It ridiculed the Richland County, S.C. sheriff who is pursuing Michael Phelps' disobedience of the law for smoking marijuana. The reporter makes numerous attempts to justify Phelps' actions, and truly believes that just because Phelps won 14 Olympic gold medals, somehow he should be above the law, and more importantly, still be held on a pedestal as a "national hero." [continues 174 words]
One out of every four Americans has a family member who is struggling with addiction. In 2005, there were 23.2 million Americans who needed treatment for their illicit drug or alcohol abuse problems, yet only about 10 percent received the treatment they needed. For those who don't feel addiction is an issue in St. Johns County, the staff and Board of Directors at EPIC Community Services can tell you differently. Addiction is a preventable and treatable illness -- just like diabetes, hypertension and asthma. Working to prevent addiction and providing treatment to those who do have an addiction is the cornerstone of what EPIC does and what we have done since 1973. [continues 347 words]
I understand that there are some who believe incarceration is the answer to solving our country's growing substance abuse problem, and I respect that opinion. However, I do not believe incarceration is the only answer. For certain nonviolent offenders, treatment may be the key to ending drug use and the criminal activity that follows. Drug courts across the country have shown an exceptionally high success rate for treating those addicted and breaking the cycle of drugs and crime. I believe if we can help these offenders overcome their dependence on drugs by integrating drug treatment with strict and intensive judicial monitoring, we can reduce the crimes associated with addiction, and, ultimately, benefit the community as a whole. [continues 528 words]
As a counselor and now as coordinator of the St. Johns County Drug Court program, Ralph Cumberbatch understands that kicking a long-term habit can be tough. "But I can't stress enough how important Drug Court is in so many facets," he said. "This is a privilege," Cumberbatch added. "If you ever want to be a voting citizen in this country again, this is a way." It would help, he said, if everyone came to the program knowing he needed to straighten his life out. [continues 548 words]
Editor: A few of my favorite colors are blue and red, but not when I have my stereo blasting and I see those colors flashing behind me. I think police officers are being too picky in St. Johns County over stupid things, like music being too loud, going 6 or 7 miles over, or wearing a seatbelt. They only thing they do to us when they pull us over is either make us mad or make us late. All that does is drive us to do even more dumb things like really speed or go crazy. [continues 137 words]
Editor: The feds are not serious about stamping out marijuana. Their object lesson is Mabel Walker Willibrandt, the Assistant Attorney General of the U.S., whose primary job was the enforcement of National Prohibition (of alcohol) from 1921 to 1928. In her 1929 book, "The Inside of Prohibition" Willibrandt bragged how she got the Coast Guard to blockade Florida's lower coasts; an area she called "rum row". It was a great success; it drove the price of a case of liquor in Miami up from $35 to $125. The profits became so great that more reckless, violent men became bootleggers. Ultimately it caused a public backlash, and three years later American voters decided to take the feds out and let the states decide how to regulate alcohol. [continues 53 words]
West Augustine is at a crossroads. There are indicators that the road being taken will lead to better lives for the residents there. The main drag is sprucing up. Entrepreneurs are taking chances with new, innovative businesses along West King Street. It is, apparently, paying off for both the owners and the infrastructure along that road. The county has implemented a forward-thinking housing project which initially gave incentives for small developers to take chances on providing affordable homes in the area. It's working. New homes are going up weekly. As a bonus, old, dilapidated buildings are being razed to make room for the new. There's a West King Street master plan laid out. Weire looking at expanding recreational services there as well. [continues 532 words]
Program Also Would Support Positive Change In Neighborhood WEST AUGUSTINE -- On a visit to Calvin Peete Park last year, U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, found an empty cocaine bag on a playground, and later watched as two men completed a crack sale on Pearl Street. On Monday, Mica recalled those two vivid images while announcing that West Augustine had been named a Weed and Seed Community, the only Florida neighborhood so designated this year among 22 nationwide. "I was shocked when I saw the conditions here," Mica said Monday at Murray Middle School. "We had to do something, so we made a commitment to make changes. No young people should grow up in a neighborhood where they find drug bags on their playground." [continues 674 words]
Students In St. Johns Rank Above The State Average In Use Of Tobacco, Alcohol, Marijuana Middle and high school students in St. Johns County have a reputation for high grades and high test scores. But there's also a trend many people -- especially parents -- may not know about. "St. Augustine has a big problem," said Jim McDonough, director of the Florida Office of Drug Control, "A bigger problem than (people) think." Students in St. Johns County rank above the state average in use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and almost every other drug, according to the 2004 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey. [continues 1321 words]
St. Johns County drug court celebrated its first 2005 graduation Wednesday, but through the excitement a future challenge worried the operations team. A one-time $500,000 federal grant used for drug court will run out by October and other funding will need to be found to keep the program alive. "This is the only thing I have ever done in 22 years of being a judge that I really thought made a difference in people's lives," said retired Circuit Court judge Robert Mathis. [continues 520 words]
PALATKA -- Putnam County's Anti-Drug Coalition has hired a program coordinator. Newly hired coordinator Kerry Butch said "drug and alcohol abuse is a public health epidemic" not only in Putnam but across the nation. "It's not easy to take a hard look at what's going on in Putnam County in regards to drug and alcohol abuse. The fact sheet we put together cites some very harsh realities," Butch told several dozen people at a reception for her Thursday afternoon. [continues 352 words]
Editor: The Dec. 4 column by Peter Guinta was so impressive, so amazingly to the point, that it is too bad it wasn't in Sunday's paper on the front page. Guinta has pointed the finger at the emperor and asked him why he was naked. Question America's war on drugs rhetoric? Question the morality of people taking the edge off? Talk of taking a substance just to explore a bit? Has he gone mad? Can he do this in a daily newspaper? [continues 191 words]
In New York Times reporter Christine Kenneally's remarkable review in 2002 of "The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics," by Richard Davenport-Hines, she sets out the scene in a vivid manner. It begins, "In a sunless room in Bengal in the 1670s, a group of English sailors enacted a scene that would, in spirit, be repeated in basements, bedrooms and alleys of the Western world for centuries. First, they each swallowed a pint of Bhang, a local drink. One of the sailors then sat and sobbed all afternoon, another began a fist fight with a wooden pillar, yet another inserted his head inside a large jar. The rest sat about or lolled upon the floor. They were completely stoned." [continues 522 words]
I'm not much of a "dittohead," but I do have a soft spot in my heart for Rush Limbaugh for reasons unrelated to politics. When my father was lying nearly comatose in the intensive care unit the final two weeks of his life, he rallied only once -- to request a radio "so I can listen to my buddy Rush." Those were his last coherent words. Say what you will about Limbaugh, he brought life to the party. His admission now to drug "addiction" caused me to say to a friend, "I feel sorry for him." Why? "Because I feel sorry for anyone who suffers addiction." [continues 629 words]
Editor: I agree with the guest editorial of Sept. 6 that said too many drug people are going to prison, etc. However, I do not see any existing offering of something different or any plan to change this deplorable situation. I would like to offer my suggestion. To be effective it needs to be nationwide. It amounts to government controlled drugs, where drugs are free. Setting up centers in all areas where an addict can go to sign in, get a card and his drug of choice, stay there until the effects wear off, then go home or to work or whatever. [continues 389 words]
It is tempting to respond to Rush Limbaugh's dramatic revelation last week about his addiction to painkillers with the same dismissive disdain the popular radio host has aimed at other drug addicts in the past. It is tempting to throw words from Limbaugh's show back in his face.. And, indeed, Limbaugh should face the same legal consequences for his actions as any kid on the street would, despite his fame and considerable fortune. But as tempting as it is to write Limbaugh off as the worst kind of hypocrite, one who would rail against, say, Darryl Strawberry's struggle with addiction while nursing his own, to do so would be to miss a tremendous opportunity. [continues 141 words]
The federal government spends nearly $1 billion a month to fight the war on drugs. But while we focus on eradicating illicit drugs, we ignore the worsening problem of over-medication. From 1998 to 2002, sales of antidepressants increased 73 percent to more than $12 billion, and sales of analeptics (drugs that stimulate the central nervous system, such as Ritalin and Adderall) increased 167 percent, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information and consulting firm. Even more distressing, physicians wrote more than 1 million prescriptions for Strattera, a nonstimulant treatment for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, in its first six months on the market. [continues 559 words]
Columnist Thomas Sowell joins other critics of Justice Anthony Kennedy's negative comments about mandatory minimum sentencing in confusing readers about the nature of such sentencing. His references are to the victims of crimes against person and/or property and to beleaguered neighborhoods too often kept in bondage to the criminals among them. Unmentioned is that in the vast majority of mandatory minimum sentencing cases, the crime being charged is that of simple drug possession or sale of drugs, often small amounts. [continues 145 words]
Justice Anthony Kennedy won an outburst of applause at a recent meeting of the American Bar Association in San Francisco when he criticized mandatory sentencing laws. "Every day in prison is much longer than any day you've ever spent," Justice Kennedy said. "A country which is secure in its institutions and confident in its laws should not be ashamed of the concept of mercy." Two centuries ago, Adam Smith had something to say about mercy as well: "Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent." [continues 655 words]
