EXAMPLES FOR OTHERS NOT TO FOLLOW

Spend a day observing Hillsborough Circuit Judge Donald Evans' court, as I
did a while back, and you'll quickly find out that you can't stereotype
people who use drugs.

Judge Evans presides over one of the county's two drug courts, founded 10
years ago to break addiction through treatment.

The people who came before him that day were a mosaic of colors and ages.
Some had their own attorneys, but most were represented by public defenders.

There was the young white woman who violated her probation and admitted
abusing drugs. She was sent to a treatment program in Avon Park. A young
black man who had been recently arrested requested a pretrial hearing. A
Spanish-speaking woman had her probation violation case heard through an
interpreter.

One young white man asked to have his treatment put off, insisting his job
wouldn't allow him to attend a program. He admitted he was not a
recreational user.

"Your employment situation will not drive this train," Judge Evans said
quite emphatically. He told the man he would have to either make
arrangements with his current job or find another one.

Becoming Responsible Citizens

Judge Evans quickly explained his persistence: "We're not trying to hurt
you. The goal is to make you a responsible citizen."

Which brings me to the case of Darryl Strawberry, who was sentenced in
another courtroom last week to 18 months in jail for probation violations.
As a sports talk radio host put it, the former baseball player got "18
months 10 years too late."

Strawberry, to his credit, looked at his sentence more as an opportunity to
turn his life around than simply as punishment for his substance abuse. His
case also illustrates why drug courts are a good thing and why law
enforcement is an important component of our war on drugs - since nearly
three-quarters of people in treatment centers got there through the
criminal justice system.

The same goes for Noelle Bush, daughter of Florida's governor, who was
arrested back in January while trying to get a phony prescription filled.
During the governor's fourth annual "drug summit" the day after
Strawberry's sentencing, Jeb Bush fought back tears while talking about how
drug abuse affected his family.

Noelle is involved in a pretrial diversion program - where she wouldn't be
if not for the bust.

Prevention Still the Key

The tragedy of Darryl Strawberry should also serve as a reminder that even
the best treatment works only some of the time. That's why prevention
remains the most effective way to fight our drug war.

Last month I talked with a spokesman for the Partnership For a Drug- Free
America who said that those who are "at risk" to experiment with drugs
cannot be pigeonholed by race, geography or family income (see Bush,
Noelle). Attitudes, he said, are the most important indicator.

While agreeing that law enforcement is a necessary component in reducing
drug use - contrary to the many drug-war pacifists who argue that substance
abuse should be treated strictly as a medical problem - he would like to
see drug prevention programs such as DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)
use doctors instead of police officers to get their message across. It's
worth a try.

I wish Strawberry well. I hope others, particularly the younger generation,
see him and make a conscious decision not to make the same mistakes.

If that happened, he would become more of a role model than he ever was
during his playing days.