DRUG CRIME SENTENCES NEED FLEXIBILITY

Earlier this year, state Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff first trotted out
legislation to revamp Florida's out-of-kilter prescription-drug laws.

No more mandatory-minimums for prescription-drug trafficking.
Sentences that often punish addicts "" not drug kingpins "" with
absurdly heavy-handed sentences for relatively light quantities. And
the bill would've based trafficking weight on the amount of controlled
substance in a pill, not gross weight. Makes sense.

Her push didn't succeed.

But the Fort Lauderdale Republican plans to take another crack at it.
This time, lawmakers must discard their "tough-on-crime" blinders and
see not only the prospect of significant savings, but also the chance
to restore judicial discretion.

Cases like that of Todd Hannigan scream for reform.

Two years ago, police pinched the hapless Hannigan for drinking a beer
in an Orlando park. But he was found with 31 hydrocodone pills he'd
brought for a suicide attempt. He wasn't going to sell or distribute
his stash. Yet, because of mandatory-minimum sentencing, he was
sentenced to 15 years for possessing 22 grams of painkillers.

Since state officials are so infatuated with Texas these days, they
should note that in the Lone Star State, 28 grams might draw a
two-year term. Here, that weight would put offenders behind bars for
at least 25 years.

Adjusting Florida's low thresholds "" just 4 grams of prescription
drugs earn a minimum three-year prison term "" to reasonable levels
is a Texas move Florida officials should follow.

After all, crime may not pay, but taxpayers certainly do. Since 2009,
Florida's had a 13 percent jump in the number of inmates with
mandatory minimums of 15 years in prison for trafficking at least 14
grams, but less than 28 grams. At nearly $20,000, housing a nonviolent
inmate like Hannigan costs taxpayers nearly $300,000.

Bogdanoff's bill would grant judges more discretion to tailor
better-fitting sentences. So that someone like Hannigan doesn't serve
the same 15-year sentence as someone busted with 10,000 pounds of pot.

And it would free up options such as drug courts and treatment
programs for nonviolent drug offenders, which fiscal watchdog Florida
TaxWatch says will save millions.

Without judicial discretion, Orange County Circuit Judge Tim Shea, who
sentenced Hannigan, noted, "this court does nothing more than perform
an administerial function ... I'm on autopilot. So I would suggest you
take it up with the Legislature."

Bogdanoff intends to. For solvency and sanity's sake, lawmakers better
listen.