DEAL ON STATE'S DRUG LAWS MEANS RESENTENCING PLEAS

ALBANY -- An agreement reached by Gov. David A. Paterson and
legislative leaders this week to give judges more flexibility to
determine drug sentences would also allow hundreds of people
currently in prison for nonviolent drug offenses to ask a judge to
resentence them, the governor said Friday.

The proposal, which sweeps away much of what is left of the
Rockefeller-era drug laws, would also create new categories of crimes
for so-called drug kingpins and people who sell drugs to children.

Mr. Paterson and legislators hailed the plan's central elements --
which would give judges the option of sending many low-level drug
offenders to treatment instead of prison even if a prosecutor objects
- -- as sweeping and historic changes in the state's criminal justice policy.

"With the endeavor we are taking today, we are hoping to forever
eliminate the regime of Rockefeller drug laws," Mr. Paterson said at
a news conference held in the Capitol to announce the agreement.

Mindful of the objections of prosecutors and some Republicans who
have criticized the proposal as too lenient on offenders caught with
large quantities of drugs, supporters of the plan stressed the new
laws' enhanced criminal penalties.

"This is designed to ensure that those who suffer from addiction go
to treatment and that those who profit from addiction go to prison,"
said Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, a Manhattan Democrat who has led
the Senate's effort to revise the drug laws.

Prosecutors, who were still trying to make sense of the plan on
Friday, said they had a number of concerns, like a provision that
would allow offenders with several prior drug convictions to be sent
to treatment.

"If you let someone who has five prior convictions into treatment
over the prosecutor's objections, that's really symbolic of a
revolving door," said Bridget G. Brennan, the special narcotics
prosecutor for New York City. "We're worried that this will permit
endless cycles of meaningless and expensive treatment."

The discretion afforded to judges in the plan is wide. Not only would
judges have the option to send all but the most serious drug felons
to treatment, but they would also have the power to seal convictions
and dismiss charges of offenders who have successfully completed treatment.

Judges would also have wide latitude to resentence offenders who do
not successfully complete treatment. The plan provides them with the
discretion to determine "an appropriate penalty" if treatment is not
completed, Mr. Paterson said.

Negotiators for the Legislature and the governor's budget office were
still trying Friday to determine how much money would be dedicated to
the program, which is expected to cost in excess of $80 million to
implement. Mr. Schneiderman said that he expected most of the funds
to come from federal stimulus money and that no state money would be
involved this year.

Advocates for changes to the state's drug laws cautioned that if the
state did not invest enough money to pay for the expansion of drug
treatment and re-entry programs for drug-dependent offenders, the
revisions would be for naught.

"There has to be a simultaneous investment in alternatives to
incarceration and re-entry programs," said Glenn E. Martin, vice
president of the Fortune Society, which runs programs that assist
people once they are released from prison. "Or else we're setting
ourselves up for failure."

In a sign of just how intricate and complicated the issue is,
negotiations on the precise wording of the legislation continued on Friday.

The negotiations also provided a glimpse at the political
one-upmanship and message control that pervades lawmaking in Albany.

Overhauling the drug laws has been a mission for many Democrats from
New York City, where a disproportionately high rate of people are
incarcerated for drug crimes. Assemblyman Jeffrion L. Aubry of Queens
has for years led the charge in the Assembly to repeal the laws, and
he routinely sponsored legislation on the issue.

But when the Assembly version of the bill was introduced in February,
Speaker Sheldon Silver listed himself as a main sponsor of the bill
alongside Mr. Aubry and then held a news conference at a
rehabilitation center in Albany to call for the legislation's
approval. The support from Mr. Silver surprised some of his colleagues.

When it was reported on Thursday that the key points of a deal had
been reached, Mr. Silver was evidently caught off guard. He then
denied to reporters that a deal was in place, even as legislative
staff members and the governor's office were preparing for a Friday
morning news conference.