DRUG LAW REFORM: A NEW VOCABULARY

To the Editor:

When politicians talk about the victims of New York's draconian Rockefeller
drug laws - people like 73-year-old Martha Weatherspoon, who is serving a
20-year sentence (Our Towns column, May 8) - they are careful to mention
the difficulty in changing these laws.

I think that Albany lawmakers are reluctant to change these laws because
they see no widespread public demand for reform. While the laws are often
criticized as being unfair, harsh and counterproductive, such words rarely
motivate lawmakers to action, especially when support for fairer, more
reasonable sentences would make them vulnerable to criticism for being
"soft on crime."

But if elected officials were made to see these drug laws as "evil" (in
their effect) rather than merely "harsh," and as having a racially
discriminatory effect, they might be motivated to consider serious reform.
No elected official wants to be seen as a proponent of evil.

MICHAEL J. GORMAN

Whitestone, Queens, May 8, 2002

The writer is a lawyer and a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department.