CAPITOL PROTESTERS CRY 'DROP THE ROCK' NOW

ALBANY -- Hundreds rally in Albany to lobby legislators in largest
demonstration for the reform effort to date.

One by one they approached the microphone to testify. Their stories,
disturbingly similar and sad, reverberated off the state Capitol's granite
walls.

Brothers, mothers, sisters, fathers, children, friends. Most of them poor,
most minorities. All saying they were lost to "the system" as a result of
the strict Rockefeller Drug Laws, which set mandatory sentences of 15-to-25
years to life for possession or sale of several ounces of narcotics.

"This is about economics now, it's about making money," said Kenneth
Johnson, 45, a poet and counselor who works at the nonprofit prisoners'
rights organization, The Osborne Association. Johnson delivered his message
- -- that keeping New York's upstate prison's filled is one reason drug law
reform hasn't happened -- in rhyme: "When the economy is down in a small
upstate rural town ... men from urban communities become commodities."

Led by members of the rap group Wu Tang Clan, hundreds of people marched to
the Capitol steps to chant slogans like "Drop the Rock" and "Educate, don't
incarcerate," while others lobbied lawmakers inside.

Some wore numerals safety-pinned to their chests. Several donned
black-and-white striped reproductions of old prison uniforms, despite a
bone-chilling wind.

Event organizers estimated between 1,000 and 1,500 people traveled to
Albany from all over the state Tuesday, the majority coming from urban
areas most affected by the drug laws -- about 70 percent of New York's
prisoners are from New York City. The demonstration was one of the largest
at the Capitol for any cause this year; advocates said it was the biggest
rally against the laws, and certainly the most diverse.

"What's important about today is that the movement to repeal these laws has
been elevated to a new level," said Robert Gangi, director of the
Correctional Association of New York. "It's becoming a social movement. It
isn't just organizations and advocates calling for repeal anymore. People
who are directly affected by the laws are here."

The laws disproportionately incarcerate minorities, advocates said.
According to federal statistics, 82 percent of admitted drug sellers are
white. But African-Americans and Latinos make up about 94 percent of the
drug offenders in prison. New York has opened 38 prisons since 1982, all in
rural areas that often rely heavily on them for jobs and to simulate
economic growth.

Demonstrators came to Albany in hopes of keeping drug law reform at the
forefront of debate as lawmakers settle in for what is shaping up to be a
prolonged budget battle.

Both legislators and activists are optimistic changes will be made this
year to the 1973 drug laws, which were intended to curb illegal drugs by
using stiff mandatory sentences as a deterrent. However, most now agree
that the laws have failed, packing New Yorks prisons with nonviolent drug
offenders who may have been selling to support their own drug habits.

The governor and the state Assembly Democratic majority have both proposed
reform. The Republican-controlled Senate, whose leadership has repeatedly
pointed out that they passed Pataki's drug law reform bill last year, has
also weighed in with a plan to increase addiction treatment as an
alternative to prison -- a move all sides seem to back.

Advocates generally prefer the Assembly reform plan, even though it does
not fully repeal the drug laws and return total sentencing discretion to
judges. Many have criticized the governor's bill, saying it doesn't go far
enough in reducing the maximum sentences laid out by the Rockefeller Drug
Laws. They also take issue with Pataki's push for increased penalties for
marijuana sale and possession in his 81-page reform bill, which some
believe would end up sending even more low-level drug offenders to prison.

Pataki said Tuesday he remains committed to a compromise. "I hope this can
be the year we adopt significant reform," the governor said. "I'm going to
do everything I can to get it done."