SENSIBLE DRUG RULING

Our Position: Drug Courts Should Handle Addicts But Also Try To Stem
Drug Activity

Drug addicts who end up in treatment centers are lucky, in a way. They
have a shot at breaking a dependency that could kill them if left untreated.

Although many addicts recover without slipping back into drug use,
relapses occur. Belvin Perry Jr., chief judge of the Ninth Judicial
Circuit, showed an astute awareness of that fact in ruling this week
that law-enforcement agencies can't force the Center for Drug-Free
Living to answer questions about reports that a client was found with
crack cocaine.

The client in question was Noelle Bush, the governor's daughter, but
Mr. Perry's ruling pertains to any addict whom the court orders into
treatment rather than jail. Confidentiality about drug offenses, the
judge reasoned, is essential for this alternative to succeed.

His reasoning makes sense. The drug court is the appropriate entity to
decide what happens to a client who fails to meet treatment
expectations.

There is a broader issue here, however, that goes beyond the
confidentiality of clients. Drugs have no place in treatment centers.
Their availability to one client puts all clients at risk.

If Mr. Perry's ruling is upheld upon appeal, it will put additional
pressure on Florida's drug courts to keep track of any reported drug
activity at drug-treatment centers.

Well-run centers have good systems in place to ferret out drug
activity and make sure that no client, visitor or staffer brings drugs
on site. Shielding the privacy of a client should not be used as an
excuse to shield a treatment center from accountability.