Suspension of Attorney Due to Addiction and Trafficking of Cocaine

In Bar v. Rosen, 495 So. 2d 180, 181 (Fla. 1986), the attorney had become increasingly addicted to free-base cocaine, so much so that he voluntarily closed his law practice because he could no longer serve his clients. Rosen, 495 So. 2d at 181. Subsequently, he "continued to withdraw into the nightmarish netherworld of cocaine addiction until he finally became involved in drug trafficking." Id. In contrast, here there was no showing that respondent was essentially incapacitated by his addiction. The court have not hesitated in the past to disbar Florida attorneys with felony convictions involving drug trafficking. See: Fla. Bar v. Hecker, 475 So. 2d 1240 (Fla. 1985) (disbarring attorney who pled guilty to criminal conspiracy to traffic in 1000 pounds of cannabis); Fla. Bar v. Wilson, 425 So. 2d 2 (Fla. 1983) (disbarring attorney convicted of solicitation to traffic in cocaine and attempted trafficking in cocaine). In Rosen, the court explained: The referee's findings of fact, we believe, well support the recommendation of suspension rather than disbarment. First, the referee found that "the respondent's involvement in the crime for which he pleaded guilty was a result of his own addiction to cocaine at the time," and that "respondent's addiction was the prime force behind his felony conviction." 495 So. 2d at 181.