STUDENTS COULD FACE UP TO 15 YEARS IN JAIL

Drug Bust Nets 16 Arrests So Far

Some of the teens caught in a high school drug sting could face up to 15
years in prison for selling small amounts of narcotics, officials said Friday.

Prosecutors plan to charge the teens as adults, Palm Beach County State
Attorney's Office spokesman Mike Edmondson said. Sixteen people, 15 of them
high school students, have been arrested. Police are searching for five
more teens.

The State Attorney's Office regularly charges juvenile drug dealers as
adults. It's been Barry Krischer's policy since he assumed office 12 years
ago, Edmonson said.

"It's a crime that doesn't deserve juvenile prosecution," Edmondson said of
the bust, which was announced Thursday.

But drug policy analysts disagree, noting that charging children as adults
is the worst thing that could happen to a nonviolent drug offender.

"The emphasis with nonviolent youth should always be on education and
rehabilitation," said Glenn Backes of the New York-based Drug Policy
Alliance. It's a national organization that works to replace drug policies
with public health initiatives.

"These kids were putting others at risk by selling drugs and they should be
dealt with appropriately," he said. "But to try these kids as adults and
burden them with a felony, you foreclose on their entire futures."

Most of the teens were caught selling marijuana. Dealing marijuana,
regardless of the amount, within 1,000 feet of a school is a third- degree
felony in Florida, punishable by up to five years imprisonment. Some of the
high school students arrested were caught selling $10 worth of marijuana.

Selling cocaine or MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy, is a second-degree
felony and carries a maximum 15-year imprisonment.

The five high schools where the teens were caught were chosen for
population size and location, officials said. Other high schools may be
targeted as the investigation continues.

"We have a drug problem in our schools," School Board member Debra Robinson
said. "Hopefully we'll address it more than by just arresting our kids."

There are no mandatory drug education programs in high school, Schools
Police Chief Jim Kelly said.

Robinson wants schools to partner with community agencies to ensure drug
treatment is available for children, noting that the demand for drugs
should be the primary concern.

No one can argue about taking drugs out of schools, Backes said, but
common-sense approaches to punishment and rehabilitation should be the aim
of authorities.

"These kids are being charged with selling drugs to law enforcement
officers who offered them money and friendship," Backes said. "It doesn't
make sense to respond to petty drug sales with such draconian measures."