O'CONNOR RIPS ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS

John Cardinal O'Connor is calling on politicians to help push for "a
major overhaul" of the Rockefeller drug laws.

The 1973 laws -- pushed through the Legislature by then-Gov. Nelson A.
Rockefeller and which enacted some of the nation's harshest sentences
for drug users and pushers -- haven't made good on their promise, say
critics like O'Connor.

For example, a person who is arrested for the first time and convicted
of a single sale of as little as 2 ounces of cocaine faces the same
mandatory 15-year minimum sentence as a coldblooded murderer.

"The Rockefeller drug laws need a major overhaul," wrote the cardinal
in his weekly column in Catholic New York. "Perhaps it might be the
worst time to suggest this with the country entering into an election
period.

"It would seem, however, that justice deferred is justice denied,"
wrote O'Connor. "Is it possible that candidates of all parties could
simply say, this is not going to affect your image adversely, if you
simply call for a re-evaluation of laws that were written a long time
ago and have in far too many cases proven gravely destructive to
individuals without distinction of political affiliation?"

The 80-year-old cardinal said it's unfair that a first-time drug user
may be treated as harshly or harsher than a career criminal.

"As happens frequently, then, severe and often highly justifiable
punishments become acceptable practice," he said. "The problem,
however, is that serious offenders and much lesser offenders can find
themselves treated with equal gravity."