WE NEED TO REFORM ROCKEFELLER

One important focus left out of your story ('A Good Read for
Spitzer,' Nov. 20) is reforming the Rockefeller drug laws. These laws
-- now 33 years old -- are the blueprint for our nation's longest
war, the drug war.

Under these laws, the state wastes millions in taxpayer dollars,
people serve very long prison terms for low-level drug offenses,
treatment is not widely available, and fully 91% of people
incarcerated under these laws are black and Latino even through
whites use drugs at equal or slightly higher rates.

Spitzer can support real reform of the Rockefeller drug laws by doing
four things:

Reduce spending on incarceration for low-level drug offenses, and
utilize the savings to increase community-based drug treatment and
job training; support the restoration of judicial discretion by
ending mandatory minimums; reduce draconian prison sentences; and
ensure that sentencing reforms retroactively apply to the 14,000
people currently incarcerated these laws.

By going beyond Rockefeller, Spitzer can ensure that people with
addictions receive treatment instead of a jail cell, he can save
taxpayer dollars, and help end the institutional racism endemic in
our criminal justice system. For the sake of all New Yorkers, we need
real reform of the Rockefeller drug laws.

Advocates will be watching to make sure Spitzer holds true to his
campaign promise to enact needed reforms.

Gabriel Sayegh

Drug Policy Alliance