In the survey, 90.9 percent believed that drug courts are cost-effective and help to reduce recidivism, while 93 percent believed that the expertise developed from this specialization has a positive effect on the criminal justice system. Moreover, staff found that a number of evaluations done on Florida drug courts have yielded some positive results. These evaluations show lower recidivism rates for drug court defendants. Florida's drug court statute was enacted in 1993 and it has not been amended. Since its adoption, many judicial circuits have created drug courts.
Some drug courts have eligibility criteria that is more open than provided by the current statute.
Where these deviations from current statute exist, they have been undertaken by consensus and it has not presented significant problems. Consequently, local variation from the statute has not presented problems to date. Staff finds that variation has served to encourage greater experimentation and adoption of programs that more closely suit local philosophies. This legislation contained amendments to various statutes which some argued would harm the operations of certain drug courts. Staff concludes that these amendments should not have an adverse effect on drug courts.