NEW YORK'S HARMFUL DRUG LAWS

In 1973, under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, New York enacted some of the
toughest, most rigid drug laws in the nation. At the time it was
thought that imposing long, mandatory sentences on drug pushers would
stop the illegal drug trade. But 26 years of experience has shown that
those expectations were completely baseless. Not only have the laws
failed to increase public safety or stem the traffic in drugs, but
they have filled state prisons with nonviolent drug offenders at huge
public expense, clogged the court system and created new problems for
communities and families already burdened by drug addiction. These
costly, inhumane laws were created in a different era, long before
drug treatment and alternatives to incarceration were real options. It
is time for the New York State Legislature to repeal an experiment
gone badly wrong.

The current laws impose mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years on
first-time offenders convicted of selling two ounces or more, or
possessing four ounces or more, of cocaine or heroin. Second-time
offenders convicted of selling even trace amounts of drugs face a
mandatory minimum sentence of four and a half years. As a result, the
number of drug offenders in prisons has soared. In 1980, 11 percent of
the people sent to prison were drug offenders. In 1999 that number
rose to 44 percent. There are now more than 22,000 drug offenders in
state prisons, many of whom are low-level addicts who could be
rehabilitated through drug treatment for far less than the annual cost
of $32,000 for incarcerating an inmate.

The calls for reform from criminal justice experts, judges and
prisoners' rights groups have grown more intense in the past year.
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the head of the White House drug control policy
office, has criticized the stringent mandatory sentences, as have New
York's Roman Catholic bishops. Even some lawmakers who initially
supported the laws, like former State Senator John Dunne, have changed
their minds.

But politics have long stymied efforts to revise the laws. For years
the Democrats have pushed for drug law reform, only to be blocked by
conservative Republicans. Yet in recent months there have been signs
that Republicans are shifting from their traditional stance. Joseph
Bruno, the State Senate's majority leader, spoke out last year about
the need to revise the drug laws and give judges sentencing
discretion. His enlightened position was a breakthrough for the
Republican Party. Mr. Bruno is in a strong position to accomplish
reform this year if he puts forward a bill that restores sentencing
discretion to judges.

Gov. George Pataki offered a weak reform bill last year that would
allow only a very limited number of inmates to appeal their sentences.
He also demanded that reform be linked with ending parole for people
convicted of nonviolent felonies, a controversial proposal that should
not be tied to changes in the drug laws. Assembly Speaker Sheldon
Silver, a Democrat, rightly rejected the governor's inadequate plan.
But he did not push for a meaningful alternative, apparently worried
that doing so would make Democrats vulnerable to G.O.P. charges that
they are soft on crime.

With both Mr. Pataki and Mr. Silver in their respective corners, Mr.
Bruno is in the perfect spot to show some leadership. If he offers a
strong reform bill, the Assembly Democrats would be forced to come out
of hiding and engage in the debate. For his part, Mr. Pataki, who has
on occasion granted clemency to drug offenders serving unjustly long
sentences, would have to respond to a smart initiative from his own
party. He may not in the end wish to veto a measure that makes the
system more rational and cost-effective.

In recent months Mr. Bruno has demonstrated a taste for independent
leadership, nudging the governor to act and even breaking with him on
some issues. There is a chance that reform can be effected in the
remaining weeks of this legislative session, if legislative leaders
drop their posturing and face up to the pressing need to revise New
York's destructive drug laws.