DRUG-LAW INJUSTICES

In "Fighting Drugs" [Letters, March 15], Bronx District Attorney Robert
Johnson states that crime rates have dropped and neighborhoods have grown
safer because of tough anti-drug strategies. Well, the Rockefeller drug
laws were implemented in 1973; why did it take so long for crime to
decline? It has only been in recent years that the murder rate has dropped
so dramatically. This decrease is a nationwide trend.

The Rockefeller drug laws benefit upstate Republican districts where
prisons are a booming industry. And they benefit prosecutors, like Johnson,
by taking discretion in sentencing from judges and giving it to district
attorneys. A first-time, non-violent drug offender who is convicted is
automatically given a minimum sentence of 15 years to life. The
circumstances of the case do not matter. He or she is given a sentence
normally reserved for murderers. No matter how you look at it, this is not
justice.

Jessica Faugno-Ramirez Bronx

With the Supreme Court upholding zero-tolerence, one-strike-you're-out
policies for tenants of public housing - even if they're unaware of
illicit-substance use by their children ["Court Backs Evictions for Drugs,"
News, March 27] - shouldn't George W. Bush be required to vacate the White
House? I'm sure it, like public housing, is federally subsidized, and his
daughter has twice been found guilty of underage drinking.

John Miner College Point