To the Editor:

It is indeed alarming that 22,300 largely nonviolent drug offenders
are in New York prisons (editorial, May 24).

Rockefeller-era laws have not only clogged this state's prisons with
low-level drug offenders, but also pull apart families and
neighborhoods, leaving children without parents and communities
economically and socially fragmented.

Legislative bodies must begin to rethink current drug sentencing laws.
The criminal justice system can engage families as resources in their
treatment of addiction. Once supported in working partnerships,
families have been shown to play a positive and powerful role in
treatment and long-term recovery.

Let us treat substance abuse by tapping into the inherent strengths of
families and communities, rather than punishing those struggling with
addiction.

CAROL SHAPIRO
New York, May 24, 2000

Note: The writer is executive director, La Bodega de la Familia, a project
of the Vera Institute of Justice.