May 12, 2000
New York's Harmful Drug Laws
n 1973, under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, New
York enacted some of the toughest, most rigid drug
laws in the nation. At the time it was thought that
imposing long, mandatory sentences on drug pushers would stop the illegal drug trade. But 26 years of
experience has shown that those expectations were
completely baseless. Not only have the laws failed
to increase public safety or stem the traffic in
drugs, but they have filled state prisons with nonviolent drug offenders at huge public expense, clogged
the court system and created new problems for
communities and families already burdened by
drug addiction.
These costly, inhumane laws were created in a
different era, long before drug treatment and alternatives to incarceration were real options. It is time
for the New York State Legislature to repeal an
experiment gone badly wrong.
The current laws impose mandatory minimum
sentences of 15 years on first-time offenders convicted of selling two ounces or more, or possessing
four ounces or more, of cocaine or heroin. Second-time offenders convicted of selling even trace
amounts of drugs face a mandatory minimum
sentence of four and a half years. As a result, the
number of drug offenders in prisons has soared. In
1980, 11 percent of the people sent to prison were
drug offenders. In 1999 that number rose to 44
percent. There are now more than 22,000 drug
offenders in state prisons, many of whom are low-level addicts who could be rehabilitated through
drug treatment for far less than the annual cost of
$32,000 for incarcerating an inmate.
The calls for reform from criminal justice
experts, judges and prisoners' rights groups have
grown more intense in the past year. Gen. Barry
McCaffrey, the head of the White House drug control policy office, has criticized the stringent mandatory sentences, as have New York's Roman Catholic bishops. Even some lawmakers who initially
supported the laws, like former State Senator John
Dunne, have changed their minds.
But politics have long stymied efforts to revise
the laws. For years the Democrats have pushed for
drug law reform, only to be blocked by conservative
Republicans. Yet in recent months there have been
signs that Republicans are shifting from their traditional stance. Joseph Bruno, the State Senate's
majority leader, spoke out last year about the need
to revise the drug laws and give judges sentencing
discretion. His enlightened position was a breakthrough for the Republican Party. Mr. Bruno is in a
strong position to accomplish reform this year if he
puts forward a bill that restores sentencing discretion to judges.
Gov. George Pataki offered a weak reform bill
last year that would allow only a very limited
number of inmates to appeal their sentences. He
also demanded that reform be linked with ending
parole for people convicted of nonviolent felonies, a
controversial proposal that should not be tied to
changes in the drug laws. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, rightly rejected the governor's inadequate plan. But he did not push for a
meaningful alternative, apparently worried that
doing so would make Democrats vulnerable to
G.O.P. charges that they are soft on crime.
With both Mr. Pataki and Mr. Silver in their
respective corners, Mr. Bruno is in the perfect spot
to show some leadership. If he offers a strong
reform bill, the Assembly Democrats would be
forced to come out of hiding and engage in the
debate. For his part, Mr. Pataki, who has on occasion granted clemency to drug offenders serving
unjustly long sentences, would have to respond to a
smart initiative from his own party. He may not in
the end wish to veto a measure that makes the
system more rational and cost-effective.
In recent months Mr. Bruno has demonstrated
a taste for independent leadership, nudging the
governor to act and even breaking with him on some
issues. There is a chance that reform can be effected in the remaining weeks of this legislative session,
if legislative leaders drop their posturing and face
up to the pressing need to revise New York's
destructive drug laws.
