I am writing in response to a recent letter by my good friend and
distinguished counterpart on the Senate Codes Committee, Sen. Dale M.
Volker. On Feb. 5, Senator Volker responded to a Dec. 27 editorial, "Repeal
Rocky's drug laws,'' which called for an end to New York's tough mandatory
sentencing statutes for drug offenders.

My colleague argued that opponents of the drug laws are not looking at the
whole picture when they calculate the social cost of illegal drugs. While I
have the greatest respect for Senator Volker, I find the data he has used
to support his argument irrelevant and his logic inconsistent.

The original rationale behind the laws was twofold: tough sentencing would
1) put drug kingpins behind bars and 2) serve as a deterrent to casual
users and small dealers.

As your original editorial points out, one needs no more than to glance at
the composition of the state's rising prison population to see that these
two goals have not been served.
Senator Volker further asserts that the real "point in question'' about
Rocky's drug laws is cost-effectiveness; that it is a better deal for
taxpayers to imprison low-level dealers and casual users than it is to
rehabilitate them.

As evidence, he cites U.S. Department of Justice data that calculates the
cost of crime in our society at $450 billion annually. How the senator
makes this leap from low-level drug offenses in New York state to aggregate
national crime is baffling.

The study he cites, "Victim Costs and Consequences: A New Look,'' includes
only violent crimes and property crimes. And violent crime, which in the
study includes everything from rape and murder to drunken driving,
comprises $426 billion of the $450 billion (94.6 percent) that the senator
uses in his argument.

Since low-level drug offenses are nonviolent, the calculations that the
senator uses to conclude that drug offenders cost society $1,800 per capita
are seriously flawed, to say the least.

In fact, the Justice Department study specifically excludes "most
'victimless' crimes such as drug offenses, gambling, loan sharking and
prostitution.''

It costs $30,000 per year to house each inmate in the state prison system;
drug-free outpatient care costs from $2,700 to $3,600 per year and
residential drug treatment ranges from $17,000 to $20,000. Imprisoning a
low-level nonviolent drug offender costs society far more and does nothing
to address the problem of drug abuse.

NY State Senator Alton Waldron Jr.
St. Albans, NY