DRUG FACILITY STAFF MAY REMAIN SILENT ON NOELLE BUSH

ORLANDO, Sept. 30 -- A Florida court decided today not to force staff
members of a drug treatment center to answer police questions in a cocaine
possession investigation of Noelle Bush.

The ruling represented a victory for the daughter of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
(R) and niece of President Bush, and for drug rehabilitation centers across
the United States, worried that a contrary ruling would damage the privacy
rights of hundreds of thousands of addicts who seek treatment.

Noelle Bush was ordered into a rehabilitation program after she was arrested
in Tallahassee in January for allegedly trying to buy the anti-anxiety drug
Xanax using a false prescription.

She was sent to jail for three days in July for contempt of court after she
violated terms of her treatment program.

The case pitted the ability of police to investigate crimes committed by
drug addicts in treatment centers against center workers and operators who
are compelled by federal law to maintain the confidentiality of patients'
records.

On Sept. 10, police in Orlando said Noelle Bush, 25, was under investigation
for possession of cocaine after a complaint from the Center for Drug-Free
Living that a small lump of crack cocaine was found in her shoe.

A center employee wrote a statement for investigators but ripped it up when
a supervisor instructed workers not to cooperate, according to police
reports. As a result, prosecutors asked the court to compel center workers
to divulge what they knew about the incident.

"If the Court were to grant the State's motion in this case, then all
patients who suffer relapses could be hauled out of treatment programs and
into criminal courts on the whim of a state prosecutor or police officer,"
Orange County Chief Circuit Judge Belvin Perry Jr. wrote in his 11-page
ruling.

Assistant State Attorney Jeff Ashton, the prosecutor assigned to the
investigation, said the state will appeal.

"The ruling essentially says that for drug crimes committed on the premises
of a drug treatment center, the state can't prosecute them," Ashton said.
"We do not agree that that is the intent of the law."

The case was closely watched by drug treatment centers elsewhere. Experts in
the field say rehabilitation centers commonly treat drug possession by
addicts as a relapse rather than a new crime.

Ronald J. Hunsicker, president of the National Association of Addiction
Treatment Providers, said he was "extremely pleased" with the ruling.

"It reaffirms that addiction treatment is protected and there are procedures
to go through regarding confidentiality issues," he said, adding that
providers "hold their breath" when a confidentiality issue is put before a
court -- particularly with such a high-profile patient -- for fear a
contrary ruling will hurt abuse programs or cause addicts to avoid
treatment.

About 1.1 million drug abusers sought help for their addiction last year,
according to U.S. government statistics.

Perry said he had carefully weighed the interest of police and prosecutors
to investigate crime against the state legislature's intent to address drug
abuse through treatment.

Perry noted that Congress passed a confidentiality law in 1970 restricting
the disclosure of records for patients in drug abuse treatment centers as a
way of encouraging people to seek treatment for addiction.

He also said he had considered prosecutors' arguments that failing to compel
drug center workers to testify about crimes on center premises would
effectively grant drug patients the license to commit drug offenses with
impunity.

Perry said he thought it likely that many drug addicts at some point during
treatment would be caught in possession of drugs and delivering them each
time to a court to face new charges would render intervention programs
meaningless.