FLORIDA IS REDUCING DRUG ABUSE

In its recent editorial "New tactics needed in war against drugs" Feb.
22, Florida Today suggests that lowering drug abuse and providing
treatment for those in need are not priorities for Gov. Jeb Bush. As
the record shows, that simply is not true. Indeed, just the opposite
is the case.

When a recession and a terrorist attack combined to impact Florida's
revenues, the Legislature was required by law to put the budget back
into balance. This meant many areas of high priority took proportional
cuts, drug control being no exception. What the editorial failed to
note was that when Bush put forward his budget for this session, the
first thing he restored was drug treatment funding.

Certainly, we have much more to do to address the massive problem of
drug abuse in our state, but in his three years in office Bush has put
in place a balanced strategy for lowering drug abuse that emphasizes
prevention, treatment and respect for the law.

Contrary to the article's assertation, he has expanded the state's
annual treatment and prevention budget by more than 30 percent,
doubled the number of drug courts (which stress treatment in lieu of
incarceration for more than 11,000 non-violent first-time drug
offenders a year), visited countless treatment and prevention centers
and led the rallying cry of concerned parents and neighborhoods to
turn their children away from drug abuse and bring help to the afflicted.

By increasing Florida's drug treatment budget each year in office
(more than $50 million additional state and federal funds now flow
annually), Bush has effected a 27 percent increase in adults served in
treatment and a 164 percent increase in children served in treatment.

As a result of his efforts, drug abuse by Florida's young people is
down (as is tobacco use), our drug court systems probably are the most
viable in the nation, treatment has been appreciably expended and made
more effective (meaning lower rates of relapse and recidivism), and
drug trafficking has been impacted heavily.

Within the state correctional system, prison treatment has increased
from 10,547 prisoners served in 1998 to 12,370 prisoners served in
2001, an increase of 17 percent compared to a prison population
increase of 5 percent. Indeed, inmate admissions for the primary
offense of drugs went down from fiscal year 1999­2000 to 2000­2001.

The editorial quotes a local treatment advocate as saying the drug
problem in Florida is "getting worse." Actually, that is not true.
Results show that youth in Florida have rejected hard drugs. From 2000
to 2001, heroin use by high school pupils decreased more than 66
percent; by the senior year it has virtually vanished. Cocaine use
also was down more than 66 percent from 2000 to 2001. Crack use was
down across the board from seventh through 12th grade. At the same
time, overall high school marijuana use dropped from 18.3 percent to
18.1 percent.

While Florida Today is entitled its opinion, it has an obligation to
get the facts right. Normally, the latter informs the former.

It is interesting that Florida Today's editorial referenced a
California-based source to support its position. The facts in Florida
demonstrate Bush's strong commitment to decreasing drug abuse in this
state.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
McDonough is the director of the Florida Office of Drug
Control.