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."