Judge rules rehab center does not have to cooperate with police

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A judge ruled Monday that staff members at the drug rehab center where Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter is receiving treatment do not have to answer police questions about a piece of crack allegedly found in her shoe.

In a case closely watched by drug counselors around the country, Circuit Judge Belvin Perry ruled that the federal law protecting patients' privacy outweighs the interest of police in pursuing a criminal investigation of 25-year-old Noelle Bush.

If the drug treatment counselors were forced to give testimony, then "all patients who suffer relapses could be hauled out of treatment programs and into criminal courts on the whim of a state prosecutor or police officers," the judge wrote.

Prosecutor Jeff Ashton said he will appeal.

"If saying essentially to drug patients, 'Go ahead. You can't be prosecuted for using drugs at the center,' I wonder if that's valuable for their treatment?" Ashton said. "The court's decision says we can't even inquire about how a person got drugs."

The state attorney's office issued subpoenas for four staffers at the Center for Drug-Free Living in Orlando after police received a report from another patient on Sept. 9 that Bush had been found with cocaine in her shoe. Investigators also tried to take a sworn statement from one of the staffers.

No charges were brought against the governor's daughter.

The governor said he was pleased with the ruling.

"Our drug court system is based on the fact that the road to recovery is a rocky one," Bush said. "If counselors are required to report every violation, then it makes treatment very difficult to work."