DRUG LAW REFORM: THE D.A.'S SPEAK

To the Editor:

Re "Drug-Sentencing Battle in Albany" (editorial, March 19):

The test of whether overdue reform of the draconian Rockefeller drug
laws will be resolved over the opposition of the state's District
Attorneys Association is if appropriate compromises can be reached by
the "three men in a room" -- the governor and the Senate and Assembly
leaders, Albany's true power brokers.

Enlightened leadership can achieve reform through realistically
calibrating drug levels, encouraging drug treatment for low-level
nonviolent offenders, and ensuring that career drug traffickers do not
use treatment programs to avoid jail time.

Too many have been jailed for too long to ignore the possibility of a
consensus solution devoid of election-year distractions.

ROGER B. ADLER

President, Kings County Criminal Bar

Brooklyn, March 22, 2001