HARSH DRUG LAWS

To the Editor:

Re "Democrats Try to Break a Deadlock on Drug Laws" (news article, June 6):

Gov. George E. Pataki and Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the Assembly, are
moving closer to a historic revision of the onerous Rockefeller drug laws.
To focus on the political jockeying involved can obscure the point that
both the governor and Mr. Silver are fully aware of the unfairness of the
laws and have advanced (and continue to refine) serious proposals that
would allow thousands of people arrested for nonviolent drug crimes to
receive treatment rather than long prison terms.

Each proposal has considerable merit, and each would significantly improve
the current situation. The Legislature and the governor must cross the last
bridges that separate them, and reform the drug laws this legislative session.

E. LEO MILONAS President, Association of the Bar of the City of New York
New York, June 6, 2002