NEW CENTER SPOTLIGHTS MISGUIDED DRUG LAWS

Drug abuse in Brevard County is at an "epidemic level," according to
Mary Scattergood, who has insider knowledge about the problem.

After her daughter, Julie Dean, died of a heroin overdose in 1995, she
became involved in an effort to educate the public about drug abuse
and bring more treatment options for women to Brevard.

Those efforts have paid off, as a ribbon-cutting ceremony today for a
new long-term treatment center called Jewels' Crossing -- named in
honor of Dean -- proves. Clients will come by a variety of paths,
including self-referral and court-referral.

Research shows the longer an addict is treated, the better the chance
for recovery, which points again to a needed change in Florida law
that would mandate sending first-time and second-time drug offenders
into treatment and not to jail.

Addicts' problems only get worse in prison, at great expense to
everyone, including taxpayers. Jailing drug offenders costs more than
$20,000 a year each, but providing treatment costs only about $4,500
annually.

Nonetheless, Gov. Jeb Bush and officials such as James McDonough, head
of Florida's Office of Drug Control, continue to oppose such a change.

A proposed constitutional amendment that would have given nonviolent
offenders the right to treatment instead of incarceration was stalled
by officials too long to make the 2002 ballot, says Harold Koenig,
president of H.E.A.R.T, an acronym for Help Early Addicts Receive Treatment.

"We need kids treated, not jailed," says Koenig of Satellite Beach,
who adds the amendment should be on the ballot in 2004.

Scattergood didn't bring the new long-term residential treatment
center to Brevard alone. The facility is an outgrowth of The Center
for Drug-Free Living in Orlando, a nonprofit organization with proven
successes in treating addicts.

The need for a treatment center here was obvious, says Babette Hankey,
chief executive officer for the Center for Drug-Free Living. Some 30
percent of clients treated in the Orange County facility in 2000-01
lived in Brevard.

Also, a survey done of all Florida counties revealed that Brevard was
desperately in need of drug treatment services. PREVENT! Robin's Nest
Recovery House, another area center for women addicts, is usually at
capacity.

Jewels' Crossing has space for 13 women and 26 child-care slots. Two
$500,000 grants fund the center, which does not charge clients a fee.
The center is already seeking a license to expand, a move that should
be approved.

Meanwhile, Bush, who has seen the need for treatment centers in his
own family with the drug problems of his daughter Noelle, should take
another look at his administration's outdated stand on nonviolent drug
offenders.