Freaktan
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In an attempt to keep drug offenders out of trouble and save money for taxpayers, a Broward judge today is launching Misdemeanor Drug Court, a one-year test program aimed strictly at marijuana users.
It is the first such court in the nation, according to the National Drug Court Institute in Alexandria, Va.
Broward already has attracted national attention with the success of its 14-year-old Drug Court, which deals with drug offenses that carry sentences of at least five years in prison and $5,000 fines.
In Florida, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The program is the brainchild of Broward County Court Judge Gisele Pollack, who spent a decade as an assistant public defender in Drug Court. "Keeping the community safer is the primary purpose," Pollack said. "We found that 57 percent of crime in the United States is marijuana-related, and this isn't the marijuana that people of the '60s used. It is a new marijuana loaded with harmful chemicals that are extremely addictive and account for an extremely high number of emergency-room visits, tax dollars, crime and traffic fatalities."
Up to 200 offenders will be allowed to participate in the pilot program, which is open to those 18 and older with no record of selling or distributing drugs and no violent history.
Once accepted, they will be required to receive drug counseling and, if necessary, treatment. They also face drug tests.
But they won't be convicted of a crime, which means they won't lose their drivers licenses for two years and won't have records that could keep them from jobs and college loans.
Newshawk: Freaktan - 420Times.com
Source: Orlando Sentinel
Copyright: 2005 The Orlando Sentinel
Contact: insight@orlandosentinel.com.
Website: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/new...0,1781050.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state
Author: Joe Kollin
It is the first such court in the nation, according to the National Drug Court Institute in Alexandria, Va.
Broward already has attracted national attention with the success of its 14-year-old Drug Court, which deals with drug offenses that carry sentences of at least five years in prison and $5,000 fines.
In Florida, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The program is the brainchild of Broward County Court Judge Gisele Pollack, who spent a decade as an assistant public defender in Drug Court. "Keeping the community safer is the primary purpose," Pollack said. "We found that 57 percent of crime in the United States is marijuana-related, and this isn't the marijuana that people of the '60s used. It is a new marijuana loaded with harmful chemicals that are extremely addictive and account for an extremely high number of emergency-room visits, tax dollars, crime and traffic fatalities."
Up to 200 offenders will be allowed to participate in the pilot program, which is open to those 18 and older with no record of selling or distributing drugs and no violent history.
Once accepted, they will be required to receive drug counseling and, if necessary, treatment. They also face drug tests.
But they won't be convicted of a crime, which means they won't lose their drivers licenses for two years and won't have records that could keep them from jobs and college loans.
Newshawk: Freaktan - 420Times.com
Source: Orlando Sentinel
Copyright: 2005 The Orlando Sentinel
Contact: insight@orlandosentinel.com.
Website: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/new...0,1781050.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state
Author: Joe Kollin
