DRUG REFORM COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE

Gov. George Pataki the other day came up with a new plan to water down the
state's Rockefeller-era drug laws.

But, rather than notify Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority
Leader Joe Bruno of the details, the governor chose to brief rap mogul
Russell Simmons and controversial civil-rights activist Al Sharpton, instead.

Both Simmons and Sharpton have been active in the movement to reform the
strict drug-sentencing laws. And, as influential black leaders, both men
are in a position to help Pataki not only politically, but in the
fund-raising department, too.

Still, the governor's decision to leave everyone else in the dark didn't
sit well with lawmakers.

"Who the hell are Russell Simmons and Al Sharpton?" Assemblyman Tom Kirwan
asked incredulously. "You would think the people the governor would be
talking to are the district attorneys, and the managers and mayors of all
these small cities where the drug problem is destroying their communities
and killing their budgets."

When it comes to illegal drugs, the conservative Republican Kirwan is
something of a sage.

The city of Newburgh, where he's lived all his life and which he's
represented since 1995, has been ravaged by drugs and the violence that
surrounds them.

And, prior to becoming a lawmaker, he served in the State Police for 28
years -- the last five of which were spent as an executive officer on a
federal drug force in the Big Apple made up of 230 state, federal and New
York City cops.

"We made some huge seizures," Kirwan recalled. "In one month, we had two
separate incidents alone that netted 2,200 pounds -- 1,000 kilos -- of pure
cocaine."

As a cop on the front lines of the dope war, and as a lifelong resident of
Newburgh, Kirwan has long been witness to the destructive path that drugs
cut through communities. And, as far as he's concerned, Pataki's new
Rockefeller reform plan is "just plain awful."

Pataki wants to reduce mandatory sentences for minor drug offenders and
make eligible for re-sentencing those now serving time on A-1 felonies.
Meanwhile, penalties would be increased for drug kingpins, or for dealers
using children or guns to sell their dope.

Assembly Democrats and Rockefeller-reform advocates have criticized
Pataki's plan because it doesn't go far enough. Kirwan, on the other hand,
insists the governor's proposal goes much too far.

"It would trivialize efforts to fight street-level dealing," said the
former State Police lieutenant. "Wherever drugs are being dealt, there's
violence. Ninety-five percent of the homicides in places in like Newburgh
or Poughkeepsie are drug-related.

"It's the street mutts who make life miserable for people in these
communities," said Kirwan. "It's not kingpins. In fact, if there are even
two kingpins now serving prison time in New York state, I'll buy you a
(expletive) dinner. The kingpins are in South America. They aren't here."

Kirwan, it should be noted, is not at all opposed to diverting addicts into
treatment. But, the retired cop said, the idea that addicts are selling
drugs to support their habits, as activists suggest, is utter nonsense.

"True addicts aren't capable of dealing. They couldn't handle it," Kirwan
said. "But my concern is that, under these reforms, the street-level
dealers would be using treatment to escape prison where they belong.
They're the ones responsible for the blight of these cities."

The assemblyman also said it's time to stop dispel the "myth" that the
prison system is overrun with non-violent first-time drug offenders
spending 15 years to life behind bars. In fact, of the roughly 67,000 state
prison inmates, just 550 are serving time on A-1 felony drug offenses, and
the majority of those people are repeat offenders.

"It's just not true that there are thousands of people languishing in
prison for the recreational use of drugs," said Kirwan.

Though there is no shortage of people being arrested on drug charges in
Newburgh, Kirwan said, his constituents don't seem to be demanding
Rockefeller drug-law reform en masse.

Instead, Kirwan said, the law-abiding citizens of the city are more
concerned with finding ways to take their streets back. And, this
Wednesday, they'll be meeting at St. Mary's Church in Newburgh to discuss
doing just that.

"My phone isn't ringing off the hook with calls for these laws to be
changed," Kirwan said. "And that's because people in my district know what
drugs are doing to their community."