TIMES DEPICTION OF DRUG REPORT WAS INCOMPLETE

The report of the statewide grand jury on Florida's efforts to cut drug
abuse is a significant public service. Over a period of eight months, the
grand jury called -- by its own account -- a host of witnesses, heard expert
testimony, researched the broad expanse of the issues and considered a
myriad of approaches to the problem. The result is a remarkably
comprehensive, in-depth report intended to decrease the demand for and
supply of illegal drugs in Florida.

Interestingly, the grand jury states in its report that it began its
investigation inclined to be critical of the effort to counter drug abuse in
Florida. But the jurors conclude with a great deal of praise for Gov. Jeb
Bush's leadership, legislative and judiciary support, and community efforts
to reduce drug abuse. They went where the facts, and not their personal
ideologies, led them.

How sad, therefore, to see the St. Petersburg Times damn with faint praise,
the work of the statewide grand jury (Unwarranted "drug war" tactics, Dec.
30). By allowing their ideological biases to lead them, the editorialists of
the Times focused on the one or two items (which consumed less than 1
percent of the report), harshly critiquing them while giving sparse
endorsement to the rest of the discussion, apparently with which they
agreed. I would hope that the Times' readers review the grand jury's report
(which they can find at http://legal.firm.edu/swp ) to gain a more balanced
picture of this important work.

James R. McDonough, Tallahassee