PATAKI WANTS TO EASE TOUGH N.Y. DRUG LAWS

Minor Possessions Result In Life Prison Terms

ALBANY, N.Y. - Gov. George Pataki called yesterday for the easing of
New York's tough Rockefeller drug laws, which were enacted in the
1970s and have contributed to a surge in the number of people behind
bars.

The laws, enacted under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, are among the
harshest in the nation and can bring mandatory life sentences for
possession of relatively small amounts of narcotics.

"However well-intentioned, key aspects of those laws are out of step
with both the times and the complexities of drug addiction," the
Republican governor said in his seventh annual State of the State
address. He offered no details about how to ease the drug laws except
that he wants to do so dramatically.

The 1973 Rockefeller drug laws were enacted as a get-tough approach
to the state's burgeoning drug problem. A person found guilty of a
single four-ounce sale of a controlled substance can face a minimum
prison sentence of 15 years to life - the same penalty as someone
convicted of second-degree murder in New York.

There are more than 21,000 prisoners serving time for drug-related
offenses out of the state's 70,000 inmates, according to the state
Division of Criminal Justice Services. About 600 of those inmates are
serving 15-year-to-life sentences under the most severe of the
Rockefeller laws.

Some studies have noted a disproportionate number of minorities
locked up for a decade or more for nonviolent drug offenses.
Opponents of the laws say they tear minority families apart.

A recent report by the Citizens Budget Commission, a watchdog group,
said the state could trim $96 million from its $2.3 billion prison
budget and improve public safety if it eliminated "unnecessary and
sometimes counterproductive imprisonment."