MAKING DRUG LAWS TOUGH BUT FAIR

New York maintains its position as having the toughest anti-drug laws in
the country even after the Legislature and Gov. Pataki agreed to reduce
mandatory prison sentences for many offenses. Both parts of that equation
are good.

In finally softening the state's Rockefeller-era drug laws, Albany restored
a sense of proportion to sentencing. No longer will narcotics offenders,
including first-timers, be subject to mandatory terms that are longer than
the terms for many violent crimes. Fifteen years to life for possession of
relatively small amounts of drugs will be replaced by eight to 20 years for
larger amounts. Make no mistake. That's still deserved hard time.

The severest penalties were instituted in the 1970s by then-Gov. Nelson
Rockefeller in the belief that purposefully harsh punishment would diminish
drug use and halt its society-sapping side effects. Measured by the
ever-flourishing narcotics trade, the law didn't meet that goal while also
snaring some number of defendants who were far from hardened kingpins.
Judges had no choice but to lock them away for as long as life, too.

For more than a decade, those unlucky souls, often portrayed as errant
grandmothers, fueled calls for softening the laws, but Pataki, Assembly
Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno fought to a
stalemate over how the statute should be adjusted. Their sudden compromise
speaks volumes about the three leaders' desire to be seen as getting
something done in a Capitol that is widely scorned as gridlock central.
They also may have taken note of David Soares' upset election as Albany
district attorney after running a campaign that called for abolishing the
Rockefeller laws. (Soares' views are explored on the facing page.)

So be it. They reached common ground by jettisoning Pataki and Bruno's
calls for getting even tougher on major drug players and the Assembly's
preference for greater use of drug treatment and judicial discretion in
sentencing. They stayed tough without being extreme and, showing mercy,
they agreed to give more than 400 first-time offenders the right to
petition for release. It was the right thing to do and should have happened
a long time ago.