DRUG BUST

Ellis Henican's column about Darryl Best, who was recently sentenced
to 15-years-to-life imprisonment for drug possession ["Time to Reform
Drug Laws," Jan. 9], is truly remarkable for the volume and nature of
what it omits as well as for the inaccuracy of what it does contain.

The column depicts the defendant as the subject of a "drug conviction
flimsier than most," who merely signed for a delivered package of
drugs "without his reading glasses." It characterizes the case as
"wobbly," describes a 1-year "sweet plea deal" offered by my office,
and sympathetically portrays the defendant as a dedicated family man.

Entirely omitted were a few salient facts. The defendant, a former New
York City police officer, had once been suspended from the force for
illegal drug use. He accepted delivery of a package from Texas
containing about one pound of cocaine, worth some $14,000, which had
been addressed to a woman at his uncle's address. As for accuracy, no
such "sweet plea deal" was ever offered.

As for the broader issue of reform of the so-called "Rockefeller drug
laws," I and other district attorneys, who Henican says are "helping
to block progress," have stated many times that consistent with
considerations of public safety, we could support some reasoned reform
of these laws. But the cause of reform is not served by such
completely one-sided, inaccurate and biased "illustrations." What such
cases do illustrate, once all the facts are out, is that reform of
these laws is a more subtle and complex undertaking than many would
like to believe.

Robert T. Johnson

Bronx