PROTESTERS CALL FOR CHANGE IN STATE DRUG LAWS

ALBANY -- The disproportionate number of minorities incarcerated under the
state's mandatory drug sentencing laws amounts to terrorism, opponents of
the Rockefeller drug laws said during a protest Tuesday. "We are demanding
that they get rid of this injustice," said Luis Barrios, a professor at
John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.

He said 94 percent of those imprisoned under the law are male or female
blacks and Hispanics.

"We call this racism," he said.

Organizers of the "Drop the Rock" campaign, referring to the statutes that
bear the name of former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, held their annual rally
calling on state lawmakers to abolish the laws in favor of treatment,
rehabilitation and job training for nonviolent drug offenders.

About 300 demonstrators marched in freezing rain and rallied outside the
state Capitol.

"It's our point to send a loud and clear message to the governor and
legislative leaders that there is a growing movement of people from across
the state who want to see these laws changed and significantly changed,"
said Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of
New York.

The harshest of the Rockefeller laws established a mandatory sentence of 15
years to life in prison for people dealing more than 2 ounces of narcotics
or possessing more than 4 ounces.

Discussions have gone on for years over easing the mandatory sentencing
laws. Proposals put forward in recent years by Republican Gov. George
Pataki have been rejected by Democrats in the Democratic state Assembly and
by advocates like Gangi as too limited.

New York's prosecutors, meantime, say that in most cases, nonviolent drug
offenders already get the opportunity for treatment instead of prison. Some
Republicans in the state Senate also say most defendants facing harsh
prison sentences for drugs have long criminal histories featuring violent
behavior.

"We have a clear proposal out there," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver,
who faulted the Republican-controlled Senate for no agreement on drug
legislation. "The problem is they have no proposal out there that reforms
the Rockefeller drug laws in any sense, any way, shape or form."

Advocates, however, say the time for debate among legislators passed long ago.

"Meanwhile, people are languishing in prisons, families are suffering and
taxpayers are bearing a costly and unnecessary burden," said Howard
Hubbard, Albany's Roman Catholic bishop.

The Rockefeller drug laws were originally established in 1973 and 1974
after Rockefeller and others warned that narcotics, especially heroin, was
ravaging inner-city areas around the state.