DISMANTLING ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS A BAD IDEA

Fine. The Times Union supports the Correctional Association of New
York's ill-advised campaign to reform the so-called "Rockefeller Drug
Laws" -- hook, line and sinker. Be that as it may, I think that those
who live in Arbor Hill in Albany, the East Side of Buffalo, Spanish
Harlem in New York City or Hamilton Hill in Schenectady may differ
with your views. The reason being a simple one: Their families and
neighborhoods are under siege from drug dealers and users who destroy
families and futures.

This huge divide in appropriate sentencing brought about the
justification for a standardized sentencing structure for drug
offenses, so that judges -- who had a proclivity for lenient sentences
for serious drug offenders -- were not allowed to simply release the
convicted offender into the general population and offer them drug
rehabilitation rather than prison time.

In essence, the Correctional Association of New York report, which
includes statements from judges saying that our drug laws are
"irrational and barbarous," confirms that many judges in New York City
have not changed their views about the scourge of drugs and the
disastrous impact illegal narcotics have in our society since the late
1960s and early 1970s.

You guessed it, the Correctional Association's report proudly includes
statements opposing our state's drug laws from New York City judges
for the most part. How ironic.

The fact remains that there is a direct correlation between drugs and
criminal behavior, especially violent criminal behavior. To ignore
this simple fact is extremely dangerous, especially since any drug law
reform being proposed by inmate advocacy groups will undoubtedly
reverse our hard-fought successes against drug violence and
incorrectly categorize members of drug gangs and drug addicts with a
proclivity toward violent criminal behavior as nonviolent, first-time
felony offenders.

Rockefeller Drug Law reformers insinuate that the current laws'
mandatory minimum sentences have led to massive warehousing, via long
prison terms, for legions of nonviolent, first-time felony offenders.
This is simply not the case. Less than .06 percent of New York's
68,000-plus prison inmates are nonviolent, first-time felony offenders
sentenced under the Rockefeller Drug Laws. In fact, in 1999 only 44
individuals were convicted and sentenced for class A-1 drug offenses.
Far from warehousing drug users, what we see is a successful effort by
district attorneys across our state in sending low-level drug users to
treatment programs that have been proven effective.

I am acutely aware that our state's drug scourge cannot be resolved
solely by law enforcement. But rather, it must be addressed in a
collaborative effort that entails prevention programs, realistic and
accountable drug treatment programs (i.e. DATAP, DARE), as well as the
inclusion of our state's law enforcement agencies.