PATAKI OFFERS DRUG REFORMS

Critics Say Bill Is Too Punitive

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 it backpedaled from some of those agreements and included new
penalties they never favored.

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 it would not eliminate the mandatory prison sentences 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.

"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 statement.

The movement to reform the laws got a jump start this spring when hip-hop
mogul Russell Simmons ran ads and organized rallies to spotlight the issue.
Simmons praised Pataki's latest proposal, calling it "very fair and very
balanced."

Specifics

Drug Reform Plan

- - More than 500 inmates convicted of the most serious drug charges could
apply for shorter sentences.

- - About 10,000 inmates convicted of lesser drug crimes could get one-sixth
off their sentences if they meet merit-time requirements. - Minimum
sentences for some drug crimes would be cut in half.

- - Minimum sentences for offenders with prior violent convictions would be
increased.