JUDGE: DRUG REHAB CENTER DOES NOT HAVE TO COOPERATE IN CASE AGAINST JEB
BUSH'S DAUGHTER

In a case closely watched by drug counselors nationwide, a judge has ruled
that staff members at the drug rehab center where Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter
is receiving treatment don't have to answer police questions in the
investigation.

Investigators had sought a court order to compel four staff members to
provide information on whether 25-year-old Noelle Bush was found with a
piece of crack cocaine in her shoe.

But Circuit Judge Belvin Perry ruled Monday that a patient's privacy
outweighs the interest of a criminal investigation.

Perry ruled that if the staffers were forced to give testimony, 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 officers."

Drug counselors said a ruling against the center would have had a chilling
effect on people seeking treatment.

But Prosecutor Jeff Ashton said the ruling would tie investigators' hands in
looking into future drug cases. He said he would appeal.

"If saying essentially to drug patients, `Go ahead. You can't be prosecuted
for using drugs at the center,' I wonder if that's valuable for their
treatment?" Ashton said. "The court's decision says we can't even inquire
about how a person got drugs."

Bush said he was pleased with the ruling.

"Our drug court system is based on the fact that the road to recovery is a
rocky one," Bush said. "If counselors are required to report every
violation, then it makes treatment very difficult to work."

The state attorney's office issued subpoenas for four staffers at the Center
for Drug-Free Living in Orlando after police received a report from another
patient on Sept. 9 that Bush had been found with cocaine. Investigators also
tried to take a sworn statement from one of the staffers.

Workers at the Center for Drug-Free Living refused to cooperate, citing
privacy concerns. One staff member wrote a statement for officers but ripped
it up after a supervisor intervened. Violators of the federal regulations on
drug treatment privacy can be fined up to $5,000 per violation.

No charges were brought against the governor's daughter.

Noelle Bush was put in a court-ordered rehabilitation program in February
after she was arrested at a pharmacy drive-through window for allegedly
trying to buy an anti-anxiety drug with a fraudulent prescription.

Florida's drug courts allow addicts to seek treatment under the supervision
of a judge rather than being tried in criminal court.

Drug treatment counselors elsewhere said that only under rare circumstances
would law enforcement be called in if a patient were found with drugs, and
that it did not appear that the president's niece was getting special
treatment.

"We confiscate the drugs and dispose of them," said Kermit Dahlen, president
and chief executive of the Gordon Recovery Center in Sioux City, Iowa. "Law
enforcement probably wouldn't be called in."