Pubdate: Wed, 09 Oct 2002
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
edple09x100902oct09,0,5008432.story?coll=orl%2Dopin%2Dletters%2Dheadlines
Copyright: 2002 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Author: Walter Kelly Cassekberry

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.
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MAP posted-by: Beth