CRUEL ROCKEFELLER LAWS

To the Editor:

We thank Bob Herbert for pointing out the cruelty of the Rockefeller drug
laws (columns, July 18 and 22).

As the representatives of communities of color for the city and state of
New York, we will no longer sit idly by while the minorities and the poor
disproportionately suffer from these ineffective drug laws. Instead of a
do-nothing public relations campaign, we need a special session of the
Senate and the Assembly to pass fair and effective reform.

Gov. George E. Pataki is strongly courting the Latino vote in his
re-election campaign. Yet he has a longstanding tradition of blocking
meaningful reform of the Rockefeller drug laws. When so many Latino
families have an incarcerated relative on a drug arrest, it's lucky for the
governor that inmates aren't allowed to vote.

Hiram Monserrate, Roger L. Green, New York, July 22, 2002

The writers are members of, respectively, the City Council and the Assembly.