REHAB CENTERS MONITOR BUSH CASE

MIAMI -- An Orlando judge is expected to decide today whether staff members
at a rehab center can be forced to cooperate with police investigating
possible drug charges against Noelle Bush -- the daughter of Gov. Jeb Bush.

Because of its high profile -- Noelle, 25, is also the president's niece --
the case is being closely watched by about 14,000 drug treatment centers
nationwide, where 1.1 million abusers sought help in 2001.

"The treatment community has a lot to lose if the judge rules these
employees have to testify," says Ronald Hunsicker of the National
Association of Addiction Treatment Providers. "All of this could have been
done privately. Instead, it's become a national debate."

The centers' biggest fear is that patients won't seek help if they can't be
guaranteed confidentiality. Nationwide, about 6.1 million Americans need
help kicking drugs, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration.

Policies vary, but experts say drug use by rehab patients is more commonly
treated as a relapse than a criminal matter. The consequence is generally
determined by a treatment team, which often includes a judge monitoring a
patient's progress through a drug court -- as in the Bush case.

Prosecutors in Florida argue that cocaine possession is a felony and that
the law protecting a patient's confidentiality allows for exceptions when a
crime is committed.

Bush's attorney says police are being tougher on her because they don't
want to be accused of coddling the governor's daughter. "We're not treating
her any differently," counters Jeff Ashton, an assistant state attorney in
Orlando.

Catherine O'Neill, a lawyer with the Legal Action Center, a non-profit
organization that focuses on discrimination and privacy in drug treatment,
says the center's national hotline receives four to five calls a week from
treatment centers reporting police on their doorsteps with subpoenas. Only
judges can order cooperation, O'Neill says, and court rulings on the issue
have been split.

The federal law mandating confidentiality for those undergoing drug or
alcohol treatment has been in effect since the 1970s. In deciding whether
to waive confidentiality, courts weigh several factors, including the
severity of the crime being investigated and whether harm might come to the
person in treatment or to others.

A graduate of Tallahassee Community College and a former student at Florida
State University, Noelle Bush entered the Center for Drug-Free Living in
Orlando in February, a month after she was arrested and accused of trying
to buy the tranquilizer Xanax with a fake prescription.

Whispers of a drug problem had circulated in Florida's political circles
for years. It became public with her arrest at a pharmacy drive-through in
Tallahassee. In the past, Jeb Bush had often spoken of his family's
personal heartache with drug abuse, but he always refused to say which of
his three children struggled with the issue. Noelle, the second child, has
two brothers.

In July, she spent 48 hours in jail after treatment center staff members
reported that she had taken prescription drugs from a medicine cabinet.

Her latest troubles began Sept. 10 when a staff member reportedly found a
small rock of cocaine -- 0.2 of a gram -- in Bush's shoe. Another patient
then called 911.

"She does this all the time, and she gets out of it because she's the
governor's daughter," the unidentified patient told police, according to a
police transcript. "But we're sick of it here, 'cause we have to do what's
right, and she gets treated like some kind of princess."

Police say the staffer who found the cocaine wrote a statement for them but
tore it up and stopped talking after a supervisor intervened. Without the
statement, police have no probable cause to arrest Bush. She remains in the
treatment center.

For the most part, her difficulties have been hands-off in the battle for
the governor's seat. But critics have used the case to criticize her
father's drug policies. They said though his daughter receives treatment,
the governor embraces jail for those less privileged.

Bush opposed a controversial amendment to the state constitution that would
have guaranteed first-time offenders treatment without the threat of jail.
A similar measure passed in 2000 in California. Supporters say they hope to
get the issue back on the Florida ballot in 2004.

Bush's drug czar says the criticism is unfair. "Jeb Bush understands the
need for treatment," says James McDonough, head of Florida's Office of Drug
Control.

He points to several changes since Bush took office in 1998: the number of
young Florida addicts getting treatment jumped 77%, to 21,659 last year;
and the number of drug courts has doubled to more than 70. The courts
monitor the treatment of 11,000 offenders like Noelle Bush. Bush's office
says the $247 million budget he proposed for drug abuse prevention and
treatment in 2002-03 is an increase of $95 million over spending in 1998-99.

Calling it a private matter, the governor has refused interview requests
about his daughter's drug problems. But his wife, Columba, is the state
spokesperson on drug prevention. Questions about Noelle have brought him to
tears at campaign appearances.

"This is tough enough when you're doing it in private. It's excruciating
when you're doing it in public," McDonough says.