FLORIDA ENTERS DEBATE OVER JAIL VS. TREATMENT

Solving the crack problem, if possible at all, won't be easy in Brevard
County or anywhere else.

A statewide ballot initiative that would give first- and second-time
non-violent drug offenders a choice between jail and drug treatment could
help, supporters say. But first the initiative must make it onto the
ballot. Then, it has to pass.

Similar initiatives elsewhere in the United States have met with some
success, while others are still in the experimental stage.

But opponents of the concept, including some Florida Republican lawmakers
and law enforcement officials, strongly object to eliminating jail time in
all possession cases. Why? Because, they say, most crack users who kick the
habit and stay clean do so only if they want to.

"You have people out here that have a serious addiction, so rehab is very
much needed," said Melbourne Police Detective Michael Wofford, who has
worked for the department's narcotics unit for 10 years. "But you have
those who don't want it."

The movement away from incarceration comes at a time when the nation's
jails and prisons are trying to recover from overcrowding.

Michael Brown, who commands Brevard's jail, said on any given day, about 75
percent of the jail's 1,200 or more inmates are in for drug charges or
crimes that somehow involved drugs. The jail was designed to hold 384
inmates. But, because of additional bunk beds and other modifications, it
can hold 1,030 inmates.

"There are those who feel drug addiction is a disease and needs to be dealt
with like any other disease, with treatment," Brown said. "I am not opposed
to drug treatment, especially for first-time offenders."

But he added: "While drug addiction may be - and I stress may be - an
illness, it is definitely a choice made by an individual. So what do I
suggest we do about it? Lock them up first, and get them off the street. If
treatment is an option, provide treatment, but only on an individual basis.
A system designed primarily on treatment would be seriously abused."

Imagine, Brown said, a sheriff's deputy spotting a suspect coming out of
someone's home with a television, a DVD player, speakers and jewelry. "The
suspect states, 'I know what you're thinking officer, but I'm not a crook.
I'm sick.' "

The Brevard Democratic Executive Committee favors a new approach. In July,
the committee passed a resolution supporting the statewide ballot
initiative to provide rehab instead of jail or prison.

"We feel strongly that something needs to change," Democratic chairman Bud
Long said of the measure sponsored by HEART, short for Help Early Addicts
Receive Treatment. "The current system is not working."

'Horrible Idea'

State Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, called the ballot initiative a
"horrible idea," partly because it would allow more drugs on the street. "
And it's going to take away the consequences," he said. "You have to look
at the big picture. Why do people do drugs, and what is it going to take to
keep them off drugs?"

HEART's founder and president, Harold Koenig, became involved after pulling
his daughter from countless crack houses in the late 1990s. She eventually
gave up the drug habit, but Koenig knows there's plenty of addicts who
don't have anyone on their side.

"I once asked a law enforcement officer a couple years ago why they don't
burn crack houses down, and he said, 'We'd be burning down every third
house in Brevard County.' And the problem is just as bad now, if not
worse," Koenig said.

Ray Marino, chairman of the Brevard Republican Executive Committee, said he
hasn't been asked whether he supports the ballot measure.

"It's something I'd entertain," said Marino, who works with Republican
state lawmakers and county commissioners to provide input on issues and
support such as money and campaign legwork. "I have no problem with rehab,
but I'd like to see the details. The party pretty much supports anything
that's going to reduce drugs."

Other States

In November, Massachusetts voters defeated a proposal for treatment instead
of jail. But Arizona initiated such a program about five years ago that's
saved the state millions of dollars, officials there say.

California started a program July 1 that mandates treatment instead of
incarceration for a person's first two nonviolent drug offenses. Actor
Robert Downey Jr., sentenced in late July to one year of residential drug
treatment on cocaine possession charges, is serving as a poster boy for the
program. It's estimated to save California taxpayers more than $1 billion
over five years while diverting an estimated 36,000 people per year into
treatment.

Yet, some question California's ability to provide treatment to that many
addicts.

In Florida, where there's no distinction between crack and powder cocaine,
first-time drug-possession offenders face third-degree felony charges with
a maximum sentence of five years behind bars.

But they seldom get such harsh sentences. First-time offenders usually get
probation or referral to a drug rehabilitation program, said Blaise
Trettis, executive assistant public defender in Brevard.

"The answer is drug rehabilitation for those people who want it and could
benefit from it - the users," Trettis said. "But the dealers should always
face the threat of incarceration."

In Brevard, non-violent drug offenders can be handled through the county's
drug court, but it's not a mandatory program. Some first-time defendants
are sentenced to jail. Some choose not to enter the program.

The drug court, operating since 1994, deals with about 100 offenders a
month, said Shaunna Heffernan, program manager for the county's criminal
justice services. Drug court is designed to provide defendants with drug
counseling, testing and other rehabilitative services in lieu of jail.

"We believe it's working," Heffernan said. "At least 75 percent of our
clients who have graduated refrain from criminal activity. That's a pretty
good number."