ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS ARE A CRIME

Drug addiction shouldn't be a crime -- the real crime would be if
reform of New York's draconian drug laws were stymied yet again

The draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws represent a misguided and
ineffective regime for addressing drug use and addiction -- health
issues, not criminal issues. With legislation passed this week by the
Assembly, New York may be ready to shift towards a more reasonable --
and affordable -- approach guided by public health and safety.
Enacted in 1973, the Rockefeller Drug Laws mandate extremely harsh
prison terms for the possession or sale of relatively small amounts
of drugs. Supposedly intended to target major dealers, most of the
people incarcerated under these laws are convicted of low-level,
nonviolent offenses, and many of them have no prior criminal record.
Approximately 12,000 people are locked up for drug offenses in New
York State prisons, representing nearly 21 percent of the prison population.

Over 4,000 people are serving long prison terms for simple possession
alone. Nearly 90 percent of the people incarcerated are black or
Latino, though whites use and sell illegal drugs at equal or higher rates.

And as New York reels from the most severe economic crisis since the
Great Depression, Gov. David Paterson and the Legislature are
scrambling to close ever-expanding deficits. It costs New Yorkers
$45,000 a year to keep someone locked up, while treatment costs a
fraction of that.

Does it make sense to spend over $500 million every year on laws we
know don't work? These laws did not stop the crack epidemic of the
1980s. They are completely incapable of stemming the accidental drug
overdose epidemic hitting New York City and Long Island today. And
they have turned the Department of Corrections into the state's
largest, most costly and ineffective treatment provider. The
Assembly's bill, A.6085, would finally reform the failed Rockefeller
Drug Laws. Sponsored by Corrections Committee Chairman -- and drug
treatment counselor -- Jeffrion Aubry (D-Queens), Speaker Sheldon
Silver and a host of others, the bill contains the four key elements
that constitute meaningful, real reform: restoration of judicial
discretion in drug cases, so judges can place appropriate people in
treatment; the expansion of alternative-to-incarceration programs and
community-based drug treatment throughout the state; fair sentencing
reform; and retroactive sentencing relief for eligible people serving
unjust sentences under the Rockefeller Drug Laws. The Assembly's
proposal would not allow people who commit violent to be resentenced.

Arguably, the Assembly could have done even more, such as including
full repeal of the second felony offender law. Even so, A.6085
represents a significant step forward in developing a more rational
and effective approach to drug use and addiction in our state. The
modest reforms of 2004 and 2005 continue to deny people serving under
the more punitive sentences to apply for shorter terms, and do not
increase the power of judges to place addicts into treatment
programs. After 2004, more people went to prison under Rockefeller
Drug Laws than in previous years.

The need for reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws is no longer in
debate. The Governor, the Assembly and Senate, and the Sentencing
Reform Commission, which included prosecutors, have all called for
reforms to the laws. The question is what kind of reforms will we see
in New York? The Assembly has answered by proposing meaningful, real
reform and advancing a public health and safety approach to drug use
and addiction. This is the direction we need to go. Drug addiction
shouldn't be a crime -- the real crime would be if reform were
stymied yet again.

Anthony Papa, author of 15 To Life: How I Painted My Way To Freedom,
is a communications specialist for the Drug Policy Alliance.