#251 Governor Jeb Bush And Tough Drug Law Policies

Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2002
Subject: #251 Governor Jeb Bush And Tough Drug Law Policies

DrugSense FOCUS Alert 251, Feb. 3, 2002

GOVERNOR JEB BUSH AND TOUGH DRUG LAW POLICIES

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For the past three years Governor Jeb Bush and his mouthpiece, Florida
Drug Czar Jim McDonough have been criticized for the state’s
aggressive policy against drug users, which focuses on incarceration
in the prisons and county jails. They have deflected these complaints
by telling us how important they believe drug treatment is and its
being a better approach to dealing with drug abuse and the associated
crimes that often go with it.

Now we read Monday where Bush has trashed the state budget which pays
for drug treatment in our prisons, thus ending programs in all but
four of the states facilities. And less than 48 hours later, his
daughter is arrested on felony drug charges. While we all hope that Ms
Bush gets any and all appropriate help she needs, it brings clearly to
the forefront the hypocrisy of ‘get tough on drugs’ laws.

WRITE A LETTER TODAY

It’s not what others do it’s what YOU do

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PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID ( Letter,
Phone, fax etc.)

Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent
letter list (sentlte@mapinc.org) if you are subscribed, or by
E-mailing a copy directly to MGreer@mapinc.org if you are not
subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so
others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit.

Subscribing to the Sent LTE list (sentlte@mapinc.org) will help you to
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or
approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing
efforts.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see:

http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm

and/or

http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our
impact and effectiveness.

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CONTACT INFO

Following is a list of most Florida newspapers. We invite you to write
to any or all of them. Of course since this is also national news with
regards to Noelle Bush, you are encouraged to write your local papers
as well with appropriate references.

Most media Email LTE addresses can be found at:

http://www.mapinc.org/resource/email.htm

The biggest paper in the state(circulation)is the St Petersburg Times
letters@sptimes.com

Other major market papers are:

Tampa Tribune: tribletters@tampatrib.com

Miami Herald: heralded@herald.com

Orlando Sentinel: insight@orlandosentinel.com

Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville): jaxstaff@jacksonville.com

Ft Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel: letters@sun-sentinel.com

Palm Beach Post: letters@pbpost.com

Florida Today (Melbourne/SpaceCoast): http://www.floridatoday.com/forms/services/letters.htm

A smaller paper, but likely the MOST favorable to drug policy reform in the
state is The Northwest Florida Daily News: letters@nwfdailynews.com

Other papers, alphabetically:

Bradenton Herald:
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/contact_us/feedback_np1/

Bradford County Telegraph: telegraf@atlantic.net

Daytona Beach News-Journal: letters@news-jrnl.com

Destin News: thelog@emeraldcoast.com

Florida Alligator (Univ of Florida): letters@alligator.org

FSU Views (FL State in Tallahassee): editor@fsview.com

Gainesville Sun: voice@gvillesun.com

Key West Citizen: citizen@keywest.com

The Ledger(Lakeland): voice@theledger.com

News-Herald (Panama City): nhletters@pcnh.com

News-Press (Ft Myers): mailbag@news-press.com

Pensacola News-Journal: opinion@pensacolanewsjournal.com

Sarasota Herald-Tribune: editor.letters@herald-trib.com

St Augustine Record: toeditor@staugustine.com

Best for last…home of Governor Jeb Bush and family, the state capitol:
Tallahassee Democrat: tdedit@taldem.com (And if the Democrat tells you
they don’t print letters from outside their area, refer them to Dave
Michon’s PUB LTE of Jan 31…he’s from Wisconsin…not exactly local.)

Good luck and thanks for any and all support

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NOTE: Please address each newspaper one at a time using the To: field of
your email program. Be sure to use the newspaper name somewhere in each
message. Newspaper editors expect that you are addressing them only – they
are quick to hit the delete key if they think you are sending something to
multiple publications.

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ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Following is an example of each of the two stories referenced. They
ran in most all Florida newspapers in virtually the same form.

The cutback on drug treatment funds for state prisons was originally
reported in The Miami Herald

US FL: Florida Slashing Care for Drug Addicts URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n144/a02.html

Versions of the Noelle Bush arrest ran nationwide. A general sample of this
news story can be seen from the article which ran in the Orlando Sentinel:

US FL: Drug Charge Filed Against Governor’s Daughter URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n155/a04.html

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SAMPLE LETTER

To the editor:

First we read Monday where Governor Jeb Bush has trashed the state
budget which pays for drug treatment in our prisons, thus ending
programs in all but four of the states facilities. And less than 48
hours later, his daughter is arrested on felony drug charges.

While we all hope that Ms Bush gets any and all appropriate help she
needs, it brings clearly to the forefront the hypocrisy of ‘get tough
on drugs’ laws. Virtually all Floridians who are arrested on drug
charges feel the full brunt of these harsh policies. Unless one has
sufficient money to hire competent defense counsel, you are assured of
being jammed into the criminal justice system. Upon your emergence
months (or years) later, you will find employment difficult to obtain,
you will no longer qualify for federal student loans, you will never
again be able to vote in Florida (if a felony), you will be barred
from a long list of professions. And if you still have the root
problems which lead to drug abuse –who cares? We’ll just run you
through the mill again.

Governor Bush endorses draconian drug policies because he knows that
his family and friends will never have to experience the full and
complete life shattering consequences of these policies. If he says
otherwise now, you don’t have to ‘read his lips’. Just check his
proposed state budget.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen Heath Drug Policy Forum of Florida (contact info – address and
phone number)

NOTE: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at
least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of
the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for
his/her work.

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ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing
efforts

Writer’s Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

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Prepared by Stephen Heath http://www.drugsense.org/dpffl DrugSense
FOCUS Alert Specialist