WISE UP

Drug treatment for addicts in Florida prisons, including the Brevard County
Detention Center in Sharpes, is being sharply reduced due to state budget
cuts.

That means more inmates will end up back on the streets, still addicted, and
thus more likely to return to crime.

Residential and outpatient drug treatment centers around the state are
taking a hit as well. The result is that drug court judges will have even
less leeway to divert convicted addicts -- many of them first-time
non-violent offenders -- to alternative programs.

Instead they'll end up in prison, where they'll likely go untreated.

Meanwhile, a surge in prisoner numbers this summer, much of it related to
drug crime, sent Gov. Jeb Bush scrambling to the Legislature for $60 million
in emergency funds to add beds.

We call that a cycle of futility, one that will continue until Florida wises
up. Other states have changed their sentencing practices for non-violent
drug crime, allowing more offenders to enter alternative treatment programs.

Those programs decrease criminal activity and help addicts rebuild their
lives. They also save taxpayer dollars, as keeping an addict in jail can
cost $20,000 annually, while a year of drug treatment can be had for much
less.

Drug treatment for nonviolent offenders is cost-effective and it works.
Florida needs to get with the program.