JEB'S RIGHT DECISION IN DRUG WAR

When Florida's Department of Corrections received 3,000 new inmates in
June, it created a bulge in inmates that foreshadowed a lack of bed space.
Thus, Gov. Jeb Bush signed an emergency measure shifting more than $65
million from reserves into prison construction to handle the population
increase.

The governor's decision drew predictable criticism from advocates of drug
treatment as an alternative to incarceration. But as Jim McDonough,
director of the state's Office of Drug Control noted, most people sent to
prison for drug crimes are drug dealers, not small-time users who could be
helped by treatment. Additionally, drug pushers have been known to fake
addiction and request treatment in order to avoid the penitentiary.

Critics of the Bush decision also point to the successful drug treatment of
the governor's daughter, Noelle, as an example of where the state's
resources should go. But even the best treatment works only some of the
time, and it is not as if treatment were unavailable to those who really
need it.

Among those who are filling the state's prisons are many of those arrested
in Operation Commitment, an initiative launched in May by Mayor Pam Iorio
to help renew east Tampa. These narcotics peddlers destroy lives and lower
the quality of life for entire neighborhoods. Their problem is greed, not
drug addiction, and the pro-treatment crowd need to answer this question:
Other than incarceration, what alternative do authorities have to remove
these parasites from the communities they are ruining?

Florida, along with the rest of the nation, will continue to fight the war
on drugs with a balanced combination of law enforcement, prevention and
treatment. That's why Gov. Bush's decision to expand prison space is a good
one. Drug dealers simply cannot be allowed to ply their trade without fear
of punishment, nor should they be able to use treatment as a means of
avoiding jail.