REFORM DRUG LAWS THIS YEAR

Now here's a powerful combination for you: An election year, the need to
save money, and the desire to do something voters can support.

It all could lead to welcome changes in the state's onerous drug laws. Gov.
George Pataki and legislative leaders have vowed to amend these laws for
years, but this year they might actually get around to doing it.

They should.

The governor's staff has been pushing this matter in recent weeks, focusing
on a new plan that would give judges more leeway in sentencing and more
power to order drug treatment for offenders. Both changes are necessary.

Predictably, reform advocates say the proposal doesn't go far enough, but
at least the governor seems willing to expend more political capital to get
some reforms through this time. Specifically, Pataki wants to reduce some
mandatory sentences outright. Under the Rockefeller drug laws enacted
during the early 1970s, possessing four ounces of cocaine can get someone
the same penalty given to murderers -- 15 years to life in prison. That
penalty is excessive, yet judges are not even allowed to take into account
compelling circumstances, such as whether a person is a first-time or
repeat offender.

Give Judges More Options

Pataki wants to arm judges with the authority to overrule district
attorneys who deny certain nonviolent drug offenders from going into
treatment programs rather than prison.

There is a huge financial incentive to do this. Drug treatment can cost
less than $15,000 a year; incarceration twice that. But never mind the
financial toll; the lives of thousands of nonviolent criminals shouldn't be
wasting away in New York prisons. The governor's proposal appropriately
does not go soft on potentially violent crimes, however. It would actually
boost penalties when a gun is involved in drug transactions.

Pataki's ideas aren't all perfect. Sentences still will be based on the
weight of the drugs sold or in someone's possession when apprehended, not
on the actual role that person played in a drug transaction. That can lead
to unfair sentences -- small-time drug carriers working on street corners
getting years in prison, while drug kingpins, with enough savvy and
resources to have others do their dirty work for them, go free.

The governor and legislative leaders need to reach consensus on these
reforms -- and they should do so publicly. Even people within the judicial
system -- including more than a dozen New York judges -- have spoken out
against the Rockefeller drug laws at one time or another. State Chief
Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman estimates 10,000 nonviolent felons in
New York could be diverted from jails and prisons to treatment yearly.

Another year should not pass without serious reforms that reduce the prison
population and get more people the treatment they need.

Relevant Web Link

For the Journal's special report on the Rockefeller drug laws log on to
www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/projects/prison