GOVERNOR'S STANCE ON DRUG LAWS HYPOCRITICAL

We weren't surprised by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's candid admission
that he smoked pot long before he became a public figure - that seems
to be the political norm since the whole "I did not inhale" debacle.

However, we were a little confused when he revealed an inflexible
stance on drug law reforms in Florida during a press conference last
Saturday.

Basically, Charlie thinks everything is just fine the way it
is.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

At current levels, the state prison system costs taxpayers an
astounding $1.4 billion each year.

And state officials estimate Florida's prisons will inflate to 100,000
inmates by this year's end alone.

So, with the almost-certain economic crisis before us and the expected
budget shortfalls to come, you would think he would be trying to do
whatever he could to conserve resources and make any state-funded
system more efficient with innovative ideas.

Apparently, you would be wrong.

It seems that Crist is satisfied with the status quo.

By keeping the drug penalties the way they are, the governor is
continuing to protect public safety as his No. 1 priority.

While we agree that it's important to make sure Florida's streets are
safe, we don't think it's as simple as "locking up bad people," as
Crist said during the press conference, according to The Miami Herald.

Maybe he missed the fact that 20 percent of those incarcerated are
non-violent drug offenders.

Many of these offenders were employed and otherwise law-abiding
members of society - not necessarily the "bad people" the state needs
to punish.

The governor admitted to using illegal drugs in the past and yet
doesn't seem to recognize the inherent hypocrisy of his admission.

It's no secret that the current laws in place are doing little to
deter people from using drugs.

But with Florida's 8,000-plus miles of coastline, it is unreasonable
to expect law enforcement to turn a blind eye to the seemingly
unlimited access and opportunities for drug trafficking.

We don't advocate decriminalizing certain drugs, but throwing
offenders into a cell and letting them wait out their time does not
stop them from donning a jumpsuit for the second or third time.

If each prisoner costs more than $19,000 a year to incarcerate,
according to the Herald, then at the current pace, Florida will have
to build two prisons a year through 2013 to keep up. The red flags
have been raised.

In other words, if the state incarcerates roughly 20,000 nonviolent
drug offenders a year, the bill comes to the state for $380 million.

Both legislative chambers are considering measures that would funnel
some inmates into work-release programs or reduce their sentences and
establish a commission to review mandatory-minimum sentencing.

At least they recognize there is something that must be done about the
problem.

State Sen. Victor Crist, a Republican from Tampa with no relation to
the governor, contended that the state's drug laws are based on
outdated thinking and advocates placing drug offenders into
rehabilitation programs rather than a prison cell.

Although there is no guarantee that rehabilitation is the magic key to
solving the state's problems with drug offenses, we are hoping the
governor realizes that something must be done.