TOUGH ON DRUGS?

I guess when you declare war on drugs and then discover that declaration
also includes your family, you'd like to keep that part of the declaration
really quiet. In Florida we -- i.e., the state -- do not consider drug
addiction an illness. On the contrary, it is considered a criminal
activity. That is why our jails and prisons are at capacity and then some.

But if you happen to be the governor's daughter and the president's niece,
your drug activity is considered a "private matter" and not subject to
scrutiny by the press or the public. Isn't it ironic that the two people
tooting their horns about how they've reduced drug use in Florida and
America in general want to keep Noelle's problem hush- hush. You'd think
that they'd be beating the drums about being so tough on drugs that they
would even arrest their own and put them on display for prosecution. Now
that would be real Republican tough-on-drugs stuff. But that isn't what's
happening.

They've got lawyers on lawyers trying to keep all information regarding
Noelle Bush's drug activity from the press and even to make the court
proceedings "private." If this were Chelsea Clinton instead, you'd be
hearing the outrage of the radio talking heads such as Rush Limbaugh or the
equally "balanced" effrontery that would be posed by Fox's Bill O'Reilly.

But right now only the Orlando Sentinel has the courage to push for making
the information available and the hearings public. That's why I subscribe
to a newspaper that's willing to challenge the powerful and to hold them to
the same standards to which the rest of us are held.