OFFERS ILLUSION OF TREATMENT

Floridians should refuse to sign petitions in support of or vote for
a proposed state constitutional amendment titled "Right to Treatment
and Rehabilitation for Nonviolent Drug Offenses."

After studying the amendment at great length, I find no merit in it.
Indeed, if there is any outcome, should the amendment be passed, it
would all be negative, effectively increasing crime and undermining
effective treatment in the state of Florida.

The proposed amendment would be more accurately titled "Right to
Abuse Drugs." It legalizes, de facto, the possession, purchase, and
use of all drugs -- crack cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines,
marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, and otherwise controlled pharmaceuticals
such as the powerful and deadly oxycodone and fentanyl.

Although the wording of the amendment indicates such legalization
applies only to first and second offenses, it allows any number of
drug possessions and purchases lumped together during a "single
criminal episode" to qualify as a single offense. This provision
stands the law on its head by creating a free pass for the repeated
commission of felonies occurring with the purchase, possession, and
use of dangerous and illegal drugs.

Law enforcement most likely would be confounded in its attempt to
prohibit drug felonies for purchase and possession, since there would
be no consequences on the offender for a lawful arrest. The magical
"third" offense would never occur, for the first two arrests would be
discounted.

Moreover, the proposed amendment defeats its own stated purpose,
undermining successful treatment by removing any sense of personal
responsibility for the individual being treated. Treatment is defined
as a "right."

While the taxpayer is given an obligation to pay for treatment, the
drug abuser is held to no requirement to refrain from using drugs or
to see treatment through to successful completion. As the amendment
reads, success or 18 months of treatment -- "whichever comes first"
- -- is the only requirement necessary to permit the individual to be
excused from prosecution, sentencing, or continuing court supervision.

In this manner, the amendment would render moot the entire Florida
drug court system by removing the strong incentives of the criminal
justice system to stay the course, as there would be no penalties for
failure.

An offender may demand treatment, as a right, at any time, from the
moment of being charged with the offense through conviction and
sentencing. In so doing, at one fell swoop the ability for the drug
court to monitor or supervise the progress of the "client" is removed.

What is left is an unfunded mandate that will lead to increased crime
in Florida while ensuring that fewer of our addicted population
receive effective treatment.

The proposed amendment ignores in its entirety both the richness and
effectiveness of Florida's drug court system and the substantial
increases (approximately $100 million) in treatment funding for
Florida over the past two years.

It defines treatment protocols that do not exist; there are no
existing state-funded programs that outline an 18-month plan. Nor
should there be one that has no expectation for success.

The result is a complete free ride for felons: Do drugs, no
consequences; fail out of treatment, no consequences. And you get the
free ride twice, all at taxpayer expense. This is the "right" the
amendment grants. Personal responsibility is completely removed from
the equation.

In short, what remains is a cynical, imported ballot initiative that
would normalize the use of drugs, confound the law in any attempt to
curtail drug abuse and its felonious consequences, and remove the one
element from treatment that all professionals agree is tantamount to
success, strong incentive to get and stay clean of drugs.

In addition to its other flaws, it creates a unique and troubling
ambiguity in the law by excusing offenders who commit felony offenses
of possession or purchase of illegal controlled substances. The
authors of the amendment seek to achieve through the referendum
process that which they could not hope to achieve through the normal
process by which the state Legislature passes laws.

The amendment, by its use of sophistry, internally contradictory
passages, disregard of the benefits of the already established drug
court system and Florida's strides in providing significant addiction
treatment, and emotional manipulation seeks to confound and confuse
the good common sense of Florida citizens.

This outright chicanery offers the voters an illusion of treatment
while concealing its true purpose -- the normalization of drug abuse
in the state of Florida. It is, beyond any reasonable doubt, a hoax
on the citizens of Florida by non-Floridians who have targeted us to
advance their own, not our, interests.

The author is director of Florida's Office of Drug Control.