DRUG REFORMS AREN'T ENOUGH

New York lawmakers are about to remedy some of the most egregious aspects
of the state's drug laws -- but their work will fall significantly short of
total reform.

While Gov. George Pataki should support the changes before him, lawmakers
shouldn't kid themselves; their work is far from done. The state is
reducing the mandatory prison terms for people caught in the toughest of
the drug statutes. Current laws can put people away for 15-25 years to life
for some first-time offenses, such as possessing four ounces of cocaine.
While drug use must not be condoned, people caught in this situation
shouldn't be spending more time in prison than some rapists and murderers.
Those drug sentences would be lowered to eight years to 20 years, with
offenders eligible for release in less than seven years. The new sentencing
guidelines are more reasonable.

Still, they will affect a small portion of drug offenders. The state could
fill a baseball stadium with all the prisoners it houses; only about 400
are serving the maximum for offenses related only to drug possession or
distribution. At least these inmates would be given the chance to ask their
sentencing courts to reduce their prison time in light of the new
guidelines. Modest sentencing reductions would also be made to some
lower-level drug offenders.

But any real reform must give judges more freedom in sentencing.
Specifically, they ought to have the ability to sentence some nonviolent
convicts to drug treatment programs rather than prison. Lawmakers failed to
include this important provision. That means judges still can't take into
account whether someone is a first-time or repeat offender in most cases.
It means judges still can't consider mitigating factors, such as the actual
role a person played in a drug transaction.

The Rockefeller drug laws have put thousands of nonviolent convicts behind
bars at considerable cost to taxpayers. Since these drug laws were created
in 1973, the state has built more than 50 prisons. An inmate population
that once totaled about 12,500 has grown to about 65,000.

Many of the inmates could live more productive lives if they had the chance
to go through less expensive drug treatment programs. But the bill doesn't
include any money to expand treatment programs. So, in many ways, it will
be business as usual in New York.

Finally, some well-intended tougher measures also got squelched in the
compromise. State Senate Republicans and Gov. George Pataki dropped their
ideas to get longer penalties for drug dealers carrying guns or who use
children as couriers. A better bill would have included those provisions.

Instead, lawmakers approved a bill that's too narrow and too modest,
considering the substantial flaws in how New York deals with drug offenders.

This debate is far from over.