DRUG MONEY MAY AID PREVENTION

Commissioners To Vote On Forfeiture Fund Use

VIERA -- Brevard County commissioners on Tuesday will consider using drug
forfeiture money for drug-abuse prevention pamphlets to hand out to public
school students. If you go: The Brevard County Board of Commissioners will
meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Government Center Commission Room, Building C,
at 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way in Viera.

The Brevard County Sheriff's Office will ask commissioners to approve $6,000
from a state drug forfeiture fund. It is just a small part of the money the
Sheriff's Office receives each year from cash and property seized in drug
raids and arrests.

Federal and state drug forfeiture laws allow authorities to take homes,
cars, boats and other personal possessions of those caught with even the
smallest amounts of illegal drugs. Often, such decisions are left to the
discretion of individual police departments and municipalities.

"Even if you have a tiny pill in your pocket, they can confiscate your
vehicle," said Steve Casanova, a former prosecutor with the Brevard County
State Attorney's Office and now a Melbourne defense lawyer whose specialties
include drug trafficking cases.

The law also allows cash and property of those not directly involved in drug
arrests to be confiscated, Casanova said.

"If you loan your car to someone who's pulled over by the police and
arrested for having drugs, they can take your vehicle," he said.

From 1999 through 2003, the Sheriff's Office received more than $1.8 million
from drug forfeitures.

Records show much of the money was spent on:

- - law enforcement equipment, $337,969.

- - communication consoles and equipment, $305,479.

- - electronic surveillance equipment, $254,075.

- - community programs, including drug-abuse education materials, $234,752.

- - and legal fees related to forfeitures, $170,947.

Local authorities such as the Sheriff's Office report to federal and state
authorities how they plan to use drug forfeitures, said Denise
Postlethweight, the sheriff's assistant finance director.

Sometimes, confiscated cash and property is held in limbo for one or two
years before a judge decides whether such forfeitures should go to
authorities, she said.

The $6,000 in forfeiture funds that county commissioners will consider
Tuesday would pay for two pamphlets to be sent to local middle schools and
high schools.

If approved, the first pamphlets, titled "Dealing with Conflict," would go
out in April. It's intended to teach students ways of handling conflicts
without resorting to violence.

The second pamphlets, titled "Drug Awareness," would go out in August. It's
intended to educate students about drugs and alcohol, and offer ways to
avoid substance abuse.

Florida Today would produce the pamphlets. The newspaper approached the
Sheriff's Office with the idea, and got approval from School District
officials to have the pamphlets distributed in schools, said Cris Davies,
supervisor of Florida Today's Newspaper in Education program.

She said the newspaper doesn't profit from the pamphlets.