cannabisnews.com: Noelle Bush Needs Help, As All Addicts Do





Noelle Bush Needs Help, As All Addicts Do
Posted by FoM on January 31, 2002 at 17:39:27 PT
By Mike Thomas
Source: Orlando Sentinel 
I knew Noelle Bush had a drug problem before she was arrested. The state editor told me. He knew because most of the reporters in Tallahassee who cover the governor knew about it.We are not the mudslingers we are portrayed to be. This was Jeb's family affair and had no bearing on his job, so it was off-limits. But when Noelle was arrested, the family matter became a criminal matter and therefore a story.
From a political perspective, it will be embarrassing and distracting for Bush. I hope it will be one more thing -- enlightening.In the booking picture of Noelle Bush, she looks like she could have been arrested on a street corner, trying to earn enough for her next fix. She has the hollow-eyed, defeated look of an addict.But when an addict is the daughter of a doctor, lawyer or governor, she is upgraded to "victim of substance abuse."The only real difference between substance abusers and addicts is the drug they are addicted to and their financial resources.Poor crack users are addicts. Wealthy prescription-drug users are substance abusers.We think of one as a criminal -- and the other as a family problem.I am not saying Noelle Bush is a criminal, far from it. Jail will do her no good. When it comes to addiction, all jail does is delay the next fix.What I am saying is: Let's put all addicts in the same boat and treat them the same way.Addiction is a medical problem, resulting from a mix of social and personal issues, possibly aggravated by genetic predisposition.And yet we continue to attack the problem with cops and courts, which is why we haven't made any headway since the 1960s in curbing addiction. Our generation has been doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past generation. We toss aside reality for law-and-order rhetoric.For the past 10 years, more people have been sent to jail for drug offenses than any other charge. Last year, almost 29 percent of Florida prisoners had been convicted of drug offenses. Karen Johnson, a woman whose main crime was addiction to painkillers, died of withdrawal in the Orange County Jail last year.I am not familiar with Noelle Bush's case except that she has been in drug-treatment centers in the past and the problem has been ongoing for years. But I wonder if she could have wound up like Karen Johnson if her parents didn't have the resources to intervene.The Bushes did what any of us would do in the circumstances. They tried to help their loved one and to keep her out of the criminal-justice system. If not for that support, she may well have run afoul of the law years ago.Noelle will not go to jail, nor should she unless she endangers somebody. But what is right for her also is right for some other addicts who wind up in jail because they have no money or family support.They need help, not punishment. Yet the Department of Corrections, under Jeb Bush, has approved a $13 million budget cut that will slash drug-treatment programs for inmates and scale back programs to help addicts outside the prisons.It's not because the programs don't work. Of those prisoners who completed the treatment program, 70 percent stayed out of jail.Jeb Bush should look at Noelle and consider what her fate would be if she were being sent off to a jail cell with nobody there to help her.And if that thought grabs at a father's heart, then he should reconsider what his administration is doing.Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)Author: Mike ThomasPublished: January 31, 2002Copyright: 2002 Orlando Sentinel Contact: insight orlandosentinel.com Website: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/ Related Articles:Perhaps Daughters Arrest Will Trigger New Thinkinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11885.shtmlGovernors Daughter Charged with Prescription Fraudhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11872.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by Lehder on February 03, 2002 at 05:20:33 PT
them and us
Noelle will not go to jail, nor should she unless she endangers somebody. But what is right for her also is right for some other addicts who wind up in jail because they have no money or family support.Let Mike Thomas try to convince the Bushes or any politician of this. He'll get no reply. Or he'll get a form letter that thanks him for voicing his opinion. Or he'll get a form letter like the one I received from George Voinovich explaining that he's too frightened of anthrax to go to his office right now and is unable to answer letters.The Bushes believe themselves to be fundamentally better than ordinary people, and that two sets of rules are needed for application to two classes of citizens ( or non-citizens in the case of atheists ). They see no contradiction or inequity. The war on drugs has reduced the US to a corrupt little banana republic with rights only for those with the money or political power to take them.
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Comment #1 posted by SWAMPIE on February 03, 2002 at 03:57:05 PT
ADDICTS / DENIAL / CHEMICALS
 I have just one question:As a user,previous abuser but barely user now of "ILLEGAL" drugs,am I,or anyone else that has control of their life to be considered an "ADDICT"?
This young lady needs help to get a foothold on life,and if and when she does,she can be a"CONTRIBUTING MEMBER TO SOCIETY"!! As we all know,there are MAJOR problems with this family,and this will continue to exist until the problems become focused.I know alot of people who come from dysfunctional families that have had the same or very similar situations.Once you get in full contact with your mind/body,and KNOW how you feel about life and yourself,you get SELF-RESPECT.R-E-S-P-E-C-T "zactly what it means to me".
Next line:SOCCITTOME-SOCCITTOME.......
 Jeb needs to address this issue with dignity if he wishes to keep control of his title,and he isn't Mike Tyson or JESSE VENTURA!!!!!!!!The government sanctions all the chemical companies,but do you think for a second that they would listen to us educated people? Jeb,you should have not bought that huge"ELECTRONIC-BABYSITTER"!You should have spent some "QUALITY-TIME"with your daughter!!Ever heard of FISHING?????????????????????If you smoked a doobie with her,you wouldn't be embarassed now,would ya???????????   
    SWAMPIE
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