Although your editorial appropriately recognized the Tampa Police Department and Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office for their acquisition of Taser guns, two other recent accounts in the St. Petersburg Times (Jan. 24 and 26) of sheriffs' deputies in Pinellas and Pasco counties utilizing this less-than-lethal technique to actually subdue persons who presented a danger to themselves or others are of even greater consequence.
This news and the outcome of these incidents are most gratifying and appreciated, not only by persons with mental illness but also by their families and friends, as well as by any citizen who may experience a one-time breakdown during an extreme emotional situation and threaten suicide and/or homicide.
Unfortunately, deadly encounters between law enforcement and persons with mental illness occur more frequently in the Tampa Bay area than your editorial reflects. Between March 2002 and August 2003, nine persons with histories of mental illness died in confrontations with the police. To reduce repetition of these types of occurrences, the Pinellas County Mental Health Coalition originated Florida's first 40-hour crisis intervention training course in 1999, trained over 450 officers in 10 classes and conducted two 10-hour sessions for police dispatchers to assist them in better identifying situations involving mental illness.
Holding the training and purchasing the Tasers are two major steps. But of even greater importance, credit should go to Tampa police Chief Steve Hogue and Sheriff Cal Henderson for establishing within their departments a program modeled after the Memphis Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Program. Under this program, only a select number of volunteer officers receive the training, and those same officers respond to all calls related to mental illness. Pinellas County law enforcement may lead the way in the overall numbers of officers trained, but they are not always sent on the calls they have received specialized training to handle.
Hopefully, the sheriff and chiefs will follow the lead and join the ranks of other Florida police departments that have adopted the "Memphis Model," as have Tampa, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, and the sheriffs' offices of Hillsborough, Orange and Seminole counties.
-- Donald Turnbaugh, CIT coordinator, NAMI Pinellas County (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill), Palm Harbor
Adding censorship to the arsenal
Re: Drug war is worth the battle, letter, Feb. 29.
Letter writer Calvina Fay takes issue with Robyn Blumner's Feb. 22 column wherein Blumner discusses recent legislation which quashes advertising that is critical of federal policies on marijuana.
Blumner was not, in fact, "calling for an end to the drug war," though she is no stranger to discussing the war's fatal flaws. The primary issue is whether American citizens have the right to present opinions that differ from that of the federal government.
In the case of marijuana, over two-thirds of Americans believe that their fellow citizens who responsibly use marijuana should not be subject to criminal arrest, prosecution and time in jail. Prohibitionists like drug czar John Walters and Ms. Fay believe that any use of pot whatsoever merits a permanent criminal record. Under the new law, the former point of view is not permitted to be spoken via public advertising. Those calling for an end to the war on (some) drugs, most notably marijuana, know that prohibition makes a simple plant worth literally more than gold. The obscene profits thus available are completely unregulated and in the control of criminal gangs and cartels. These criminal dealers have no compunction about marketing drugs to our children.
More important is that every marijuana possession arrest by police (over 40,000 annually in Florida) further jams up the criminal justice system. Thus, truly violent offenders are more likely to be released from jail and allowed back on the streets to further damage the public.
If Ms. Fay or other prohibitionists really want to protect Florida's children, they will join in the move to end 21st century prohibition and put criminal drug dealers out of business. But first, we must have the freedom to even mention the issue publicly without fear of government censors.
-- Stephen Heath, Clearwater
Two scourges instead of one
Re: Drug war is worth the battle.
After reading the letter from Calvina Fay, the executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation Inc., I was left with a feeling bordering on total disgust. Either Ms. Fay doesn't recognize sophistry when she sees it, or, worse yet, she assumes your readers don't recognize it either.
In the first place, her attempt to justify the incarceration of thousands of her fellow human beings by linking them to the murder of Carlie Brucia is a cynical example of the logical fallacy known as "after the fact, therefore because." By using this fallacy, Ms. Fay ignores the fact that there are millions of people in this country who have used drugs and who have never harmed anybody with the possible exception of themselves.
To see how specious this argument is, we need only consider the case of Andrea Yates, a fundamentalist Christian who murdered her five children to protect them from the evils of this world. Likewise, several religious sects routinely withhold medical treatment from their children, which results in needless suffering and sometimes even death to those children. If we apply Ms. Fay's logic to these situations, then it would make good sense to incarcerate all fundamentalist Christians to protect their children from potential harm.
Secondly, Ms. Fay completely overlooks the fact that the scourge of drugs is made far worse by criminalizing drug use rather than treating it. The dollar figures and other negative effects of drugs that she cites are in large part a consequence of the war on drugs and not a direct result of drug use itself; therefore, if we follow her advice, we get two scourges instead of one, with the secondary scourge being demonstrably worse than the first.
-- Joe Reinhardt, Pinellas Park
Antidrug plan is forgetting something
Re: White House targets prescription drug abuse, March 2.
I found it interesting reading an article from the Associated Press about President Bush's antidrug plan to target painkillers. The article quotes a statistic from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy that states, "Prescription medicine now ranks second, behind marijuana, among drugs most abused by adults and young people." I don't know where they get their facts, but I'm willing to bet that alcohol and cigarettes are two drugs that are more often abused. Can it be the lobbying influence of big tobacco and big booze that keeps this oversight perpetuated?
-- Scott McKown, Palm Harbor
The bad news is for patients
Recently, a biotech company reportedly got approval for a colorectal cancer drug. The drug is expected to generate $600-million in sales a year. Their stock has gone from $25 to $100 in the last year. The drug will cost the patient $4,200 a month. That's the good news for the company shareholders.
The bad news for the colorectal cancer victims is the high cost of the drug... and for that price, it reportedly will extend their life expectancy all of five months.
-- Dr. John Caris, New Port Richey
Let the soldiers smoke
Re: A hard habit for America's soldiers to break, Feb. 29.
I would be the first person to admit that smoking is hazardous to one's health, but I would also make this comment: When the first explorers landed in the Americas, they found the natives smoking rolled-up leaves they called tobaggo. In the 1500s and 1600s, tobacco was the only export the early settlers had as a money-producing crop. Tobacco at one time was even used as our monetary standard just as gold and silver. It's quite possible that we might not have won World War II if it hadn't been for Camels and Philip Morris. So if a GI wants to smoke a cigarette before, during or after a battle, I say let him do it. It's absurd to ask anyone to go get shot at but don't smoke because it might spoil your health.
-- Raymond W. Snow, New Port Richey
Ignorance on display
Re: Unintended compliments, letter, Feb. 24.
I have long thought that the term "liberal" is a compliment. To carry this line of thought further, consider these synonyms for the term "conservative": right-wing, reactionary, intolerant, bigoted, narrow, biased, prejudiced, provincial, limited, strict, unbending, fixed, inflexible, rigid and literal. The source for these synonyms is Reader's Digest Family Word Finder. The same source gives a synonym list for "liberal" as follows: left-wing, progressive, freethinking, advanced, fair-minded, open-minded, broad-minded, tolerant, forbearing, magnanimous, unbigoted, unprejudiced, unbiased, impartial, enlightened, humanitarian and open to reason. I disagree with the writer that we should educate those misusing the term "liberal." Let them continue to compliment us unknowingly while showing their ignorance.
-- Bill Balmer, Belleair Bluffs
Thank "ewe' for the laugh
Re: It's not just the sheep that are woolly-headed, by Dave Scheiber, March 2.
Dave Scheiber begins his hilarious article about Florida Speaker Johnnie Byrd's bonehead comment equating his colleagues in the Legislature to sheep, "a real sheep shot." In between, he quotes sheep experts from Utah, Ohio and West Virginia and, with a delicious irony worthy of Voltaire, suggests that woolly-headed has a speaker connection; he ends with "Sheepish or a sound policy decision? Ewe make the call."
Bravo, Dave.
-- Joseph H. Francis, St. Petersburg
A refreshing story
Re: The kindest cut, March 2.
It was so refreshing to read the wonderful story about Alfred Sainz, the hairstylist who visits hospice patients on his day off. With so many stories in the news about the violence and crime all around us, it is good to know that there are still people who will take the time to make a difference in the lives of others. God bless Mr. Sainz and his good works.
-- Mary-Jane Poirier, Sarasota
Accentuate the positive
Re: The kindest cut, March 2.
Thank you for a truly inspirational article about an everyday humanitarian.
People like Alfred Sainz, who does volunteer work with hospice patients, should be role models for all of us, especially our youth.
Let's have more stories like this instead of glorifying certain sports figures and people in the entertainment field who flout the law and thereby gain free publicity. Rather, let's hear more about the charitable contributions that so many athletes and entertainers make.
God bless Alfred Sainz.
Remember some old lyrics that tell us to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative and don't mess with Mr. In-between.
-- Marjorie M. Mooney, Indian Shores
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