MARTINEZ TO MAYORS: FIGHT DRUGS

Orlando -- Former Gov. Bob Martinez encouraged mayors to do more in the
fight against drugs,especially in the battle to combat the move to legalize
marijuana for medicinal purposes. Martinez, who also served as the nations
first drug czar fro 1991-1993, told mayors attending a Meeting of the
Florida's Association Of Republican Mayors that Americans have been too
complacent in working to to stem the tide against illegal drug use.

Martinez, who was governor from 1986 to 1990, was joined by Secretary Bill
Bankhead of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Orlando Police
Police Chief Jeremy Demings and Calvina Fay of the Drug Free America
Foundation in calling for a grass-roots effort in stopping those who would
legalize marijuana use.

To make the use of marijuana legal, they said, would allow for legal
trafficking of the drug and legal sale and distribution without a
prescription for such ailments as headaches, upset stomach and athletes
foot. Already, an estimated 1.2 million people in the state use marijuana,
Martinez said. That, he noted, is more than the number who consume the soft
drink Sprite. Martinez said legalizing marijuana sends "the wrong message"
to children. They have a right to know that drug use is not right, he told
the mayors.