13. February 2009 by student.

Society is filled with people. White middle class men, nurses, teachers, doctors, therapists. However, there are also those that go unseen, while in your 9-5 job these people are out there”hustling”, “dealing”; it’s what they call the street life . Narcotics Anonymous is a fellowship that grew erratically and quickly spread throughout the US. It was formed in July of 1953 with the first meeting in Southern California, a place of redemption for all those that had lost hope. I’m not sure in which of my classes I heard it, but it was something among the lines of social structure. Something to do with the white male office holder, salesman, doctor, all the way down to the drug addict. But it’s this program I’ve discovered that gives the drug addict the hope, power, and willingness to achieve what the white male, BMW driver has. Because the reality in the rooms of NA is that. They were once lawyer’s who stumbled across a bottle of xanaz, or oxycotin. Some of the stories in the rooms are remarkable, breathtaking, unthinkable. Forget rags-to-riches,  these people have fallen, hit rock bottom, and found a home where they are accepted, and are taking steps to reinvent themselves. Although not all addicts are so willing, some are, to return to active society. I feel like society dehuminizes drug addicts, but when you take a closer look you see that these so called “drug addicts” were teachers, doctors, lawyers, they were rich, they were smart, they just took a wrong turn, and keep driving. I’m not here to praise drug addicted beings, or drug users, but rather to shed light on something else. If the drug addict is the lowest in society, and the drug addict was once a doctor is there still hope if he gets clean? If he works his program? You tell me. Society tell me.

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13. February 2009 by student.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) recently announced that violent crime in Florida has decreased by 2.4 percent for the first half of 2008, down from the same time period in 2007. The FDLE report includes data obtained from over 400 law enforcement agencies regarding violent crimes reported between January and June of this year. The numbers for four categories of violent crime, murder, robbery, aggravated assault and forcible sex offenses, all decreased this year compared to the same period in 2007. The number of crimes reported overall in Florida however increased by 1.6% compared to the same time period last year.

“The first half of the year is typically a good indicator as to what is ahead in the remaining months,” said FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey. “Arrests are up and we applaud the hard work of Florida law enforcement in aggressively combating crime.”

The number of domestic violence offenses reported decreased by 3.0 percent from last year while the number of total arrests made increased by 3.9 percent. Juvenile arrests increased 0.9 percent, while adult arrests increased 4.3 percent. Car theft is down 10.1 percent over the same period last year.

The complete 2008 Semi-Annual Crime in Florida, Uniform Crime Report, including county-by-county breakdowns, can be found on FDLE’s Web site: www.fdle.state.fl.us/fsac/ucr.

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