DRUG TREATMENT WORKS, EVEN IF YOU AREN'T A BUSH

While I sympathize with the Bush family's ongoing troubles with
substance abuse, I find Gov. Jeb Bush's relentless opposition to the
recently tabled treatment instead of incarceration ballot initiative
hypocritical. Fortunately for Noelle, her drug offense involved
prescription Xanax and not crack cocaine. Gov. Bush would be doing a
lot more crying if his daughter had been given a lengthy mandatory
minimum sentence instead of a treatment referral.

If drug treatment works for the Bushes, why not apply the same
standard to Floridians from less influential families? Jail cells and
criminal records are hardly appropriate health interventions. Drug
abuse is bad, but the zero tolerance drug war is worse.

ROBERT SHARPE
Program Officer Drug Policy Alliance
http://www.drugpolicy.org