END WAR ON DRUGS, CITY RESIDENTS SAY

Carolyn Stanley slapped her palm on the table Sunday as she dropped three
gun shells she found outside her Cannon Street home over the weekend.

"This is the reason we should do something about drugs," she said,
discussing the issue with neighbors at a block party in the 200 block of
West Newell Street.

Ending the war on drugs, Stanley said, is one way to solve the problem.

Stanley, who has been fighting for four years to end drug trafficking in her
neighborhood, is among 158 people who wrote to Gov. George Pataki, asking
him to end the war on drugs.

"If they legalize it and put it in the liquor store, then you won't have all
this shooting and killing," Stanley said. "Our people are taking drugs, but
they are not bringing it in our neighborhood. The police are out there, but
we don't seem to be getting satisfaction."

The letter to Pataki was a requirement for attending the block party
organized by Dr. Jennifer Daniels, who runs a family practice at 3100 S.
Salina St. About 85 people attended Sunday's event.

Daniels organized the event six years ago to unite residents and encourage
them to get involved in addressing neighborhood issues.

Each year, residents write letters to government officials on issues
affecting their neighborhood.

Daniels said the daylight shooting of 17-year-old Duriel Ryans inspired her
to address the drug problem. Ryans was gunned down July 22 at Cannon and
West Newell streets, about a block from Sunday's party. Ryans' family said
they had warned him to stay off the corner because drug dealers had
threatened him.

"The only hope is to call off the war on drugs," Daniels said. "That's the
only way to reclaim our neighborhoods."

Lottie Muchnicki, 78, has lived at 124 W. Newell St. for 47 years. The last
10 years, she said, have been a "nightmare."

"We're tired of living in a war zone," Muchnicki wrote. "We have daytime
drama, and we have nighttime drama. We need help."

Bernadean Logan said she's afraid to send her grandchildren to the corner
store. She's afraid they will get caught in the gunfire between drug dealers.

"You can't send a 12-year-old to the store anymore," said Logan, who lives
on West Kennedy Street. "I think if they stop the drug war, it will help."

Putting people in jail won't solve the drug problem, said Mike Smithson,
director of the speakers bureau for ReconsiDer, a grass-roots group working
to change drug laws.

"The war on drugs is a failure," Smithson said. "The problem is not the
drugs, the problem is the war on drugs."

Organizers hope the letter-writing campaign will inform politicians that not
everyone supports the war on drugs, said Nicholas Eyle, executive director
of ReconsiDer.

Legalizing drugs will put the drug dealers out of business and stop the
feuding over street turf, he said.

"Now, we have an illegal market where people can go out at 2 a.m. and buy
crack cocaine from a 12-year-old," he said. "It's harder for a kid to get
alcohol than cocaine or marijuana."

Stanley's 15-year-old grandson, Michael, told Pataki that he's scared of
getting shot because of the drug trafficking in his neighborhood.

The Rev. William Redekop and his wife, Angela, told Pataki that the war on
drugs is making "our streets a more dangerous place to live."

While they are opposed to legalizing drugs, the couple suggested that
government work with clergy and community groups to find solutions to the
problem.

"We need to change our approach to dealing with the drug problem," said the
Rev. Redekop, assistant pastor of Syracuse Alliance Church.