GOOD DRUG DEAL

Assembly's plan would improve on Albany's proposed reforms of Rockefeller
drug laws.

Assembly Democrats, who have long pushed to reform New York's draconian
Rockefeller drug laws, upped the ante last week with an ambitious proposal
that would not only curtail mandatory prison sentences, but also
aggressively utilize drug treatment as an alternative crime-fighting tool.

Their proposal-to require a course of substance-abuse treatment, along with
regular drug testing, for every person with a documented history of drug
use who is in prison, on parole or on probation-marks a key philosophical
departure from current practice. It would capture the money saved on
prisons in a "crime-reduction fund" to pay for the expansion of treatment.

With drug abuse driving much of the state's crime, it's an enlightened
approach that deserves a try.

Long, mandatory prison terms were a politically expedient reaction three
decades ago to the then-burgeoning drug epidemic. The result has been
dramatic growth of the state's prison population, with nonviolent drug
offenders occupying an increasing number of expensive prison cells.

That wasteful trend has slowed in recent years, and treatment has become a
growing part of the mix. But unfortunately, officials have always stopped
short of outright repeal of mandatory sentences.

Now, with the state's crime rate down and reform plans from Republican Gov.
George Pataki and Assembly Democrats on the table, the time appears right
for meaningful reform.

Both proposals would reduce the current mandatory 15-year-to-life sentence
for the possession of four or more ounces of a controlled substance. And
both would give judges more discretion in deciding which nonviolent drug
offenders would get a chance at treatment in place of prison.

Democrats, however, would make more offenders eligible for that break. And
while Senate Republicans recently proposed more money for drug treatment,
Democrats would require treatment across the board.

It's a smart approach. Increasingly, experience has shown that treatment
works. And people who stop abusing drugs are also much more likely to stop
committing crimes.