DEMOCRATS RAP NEW DRUG BILL

Pataki's Latest Plan to Soften Rockefeller Laws Called Too Harsh

ALBANY - Gov. George Pataki's newest proposal to soften the state's
drug laws appeared unlikely to go anywhere as Democrats and activists
bashed it Tuesday as overly harsh.

Pataki said his new bill reflected compromises Democrats and
Republicans reached last month in a marathon seven-hour meeting at the
end of the legislative session. But Democrats and groups pushing for
drug-law reform said the bill backpedaled from some of those
agreements and included new penalties they did not favor.

Assembly Democrats called it a far cry from reforms they want and said
it marks a retreat in several key areas from earlier Pataki proposals.
One reform group called it "evidence of bad faith" on the governor's
part.

The bill, made public Tuesday, would reduce prison sentences for many
drug crimes and allow offenders now in prison to apply for shorter
sentences. It would toughen penalties for drug kingpins and some
violent offenders.

But, significantly, it would not eliminate the mandatory prison
sentences that Democrats and reform groups want stripped out of the
law so that judges can divert drug offenders to treatment programs
instead of prison.

In fact, the Pataki bill creates new minimum sentences for some repeat
drug offenders, said Deborah Small of the Drug Policy Alliance.

"It's exactly the opposite of what we've been trying to move toward,"
Small said. She called it "evidence of the bad faith the governor has
shown all along" in years of negotiations over the drug laws.

Pataki said he was not surprised by criticism.

"I'm sure there are going to proponents, opponents, people ... of all
stripes criticizing the proposal because it does represent a
compromise," he said. "I would just urge both the Senate and the
Assembly to try to find a way in their conferences to pass this
legislation. This is it. They can change the law and I would urge them
both to do that."

While Senate Republicans were optimistic, Assembly Democrats panned
the plan.

"Ideally, we'd like to see all three sides together on a proposal, and
that is what we're hoping this might lead to," said John McArdle,
spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick,
Rensselaer County.

"We are most disappointed by the complete lack of judicial discretion
and the absence of any drug treatment diversion provision," said
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, and Corrections
Committee chairman Jeffrion Aubry, D-Queens, in a written statement.

The state's drug laws date to the 1970s and Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.
They've been the subject of fierce debate for the last few years;
activists have blamed them for filling the state's prisons with
low-level offenders in need of drug treatment.

The movement to reform the laws got a jump-start this spring when
hip-hop music mogul Russell Simmons ran ads and organized rallies to
spotlight the issue. That led to the marathon bargaining session.