THE COST OF PRISONS

In response to "Florida Prison Population: Growing by Leaps and
Bounds" and its great financial need [editorial, May 17], Florida's
prison population is definitely in a financial crisis and, as stated
before, is growing by leaps and bounds.

So much money is being spent unnecessarily, to sentence people
according to our current public policy, that could be used for so
many things that are drastically in need of immediate attention.

Most of us certainly know that our state system is in great need of
help, such as our children and their teachers' salaries. Also,
Florida, like other states are now doing, could fund medical studies
for our seriously ill with cancer, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, multiple
sclerosis, glaucoma, etc., and the list grows on.

The mandatory-minimum sentences do need to change. The old policies
in place are based on past societal issues and past public opinion.
Medical marijuana is a popular issue. A November 2005 nationwide
Gallup poll showed 78 percent of Americans "support making marijuana
legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain
and suffering," and our state medical-marijuana initiatives have
been repeatedly endorsed by voters.

Illegal substances, cocaine and morphine, can be legally prescribed
by doctors, yet a current over-the-counter drug, Tylenol, causes
about 500 deaths per year. And to top it off, many medical
organizations, including the American Public Health Association, the
American Nurses Association, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,
support legal medical marijuana for the seriously ill.

So it does "confound common sense." If simple laws were changed,
such as not sentencing many nonviolent crimes currently on the
books, so much money could be used to rid our state of the
incredibly unforgivable debt that we are currently in.

And, of course, let us not forget our children and their providers.

TIMOTHY McLEAN

Lakeland