Drug users really need to buckle up in Florida
Just weeks after Florida enacted a mandatory seat belt law on June 30th, four felony drug arrests have been made on unsuspecting motorists and their passengers. In two separate incidents merely days apart and both in Alachua County, home to Gainesville – police have seen their public safety measure and economic stimulus ploy (which makes the state eligible for $35 million in federal grant money) become their newest technique in capturing criminals.
The law, known as a “primary” seat belt law was 20 years in the making in Florida but still makes them only the 28th state to enforce such a thing. Before, one had to be stopped for a separate infraction to be cited for not wearing a seat belt. Now, the ticket will cost Floridians a mere $30. But when you have some drugstore cowboys like Chelsey and Jose Burgos cruising around with marijuana and stolen oxycodone and morphine from a local Walgreens because they were “tired of being broke,” a whole new class of easy targets for law enforcement has been created.
