Pubdate: Wed, 09 Jun 2004 Source: Times Union (Albany, NY) Copyright: 2004 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation Contact: http://www.timesunion.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452 Action: http://www.realreform2004.com/ Please view our fantastic Flash animation at www.realreform2004.com/flash Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) DRUG LAW DEBACLE A Conference Committee Reaches a Dead End in a Long Overdue Attempt To Agree on Reform State lawmakers appear on the verge of once again walking away from a long overdue reform of the harsh Rockefeller Drug Laws. This is shameful and cruel, and the Senate's leaders must bear full blame for becoming an obstacle to progress. For seven years the Legislature has failed to reach an accord on a more just and humane system of punishment for those who sell or buy drugs. This year, there was hope that reform would be achieved. Those hopes were buoyed when the Senate and Assembly took the rare step of trying to reach an agreement in an open conference committee. Advocates for drug law reform, which include nearly everyone except the state's prosecutors, were heartened. But on Monday, those hopes appeared dashed when senators on the conference committee walked away without reaching an agreement with their Assembly counterparts and without any further public meetings on the agenda. The talk is that the Senate will continue its deliberations behind closed doors and likely pass a measure later this month. But without the Assembly on board, the one-house bill will be meaningless. The impasse comes down to this: Senate negotiators favor reducing sentences for the most major drug offenses, which are now punishable by mandatory terms of up to life in prison. Assembly negotiators want more liberal sentencing guidelines to extend beyond that, down to low-level offenses. And, most importantly, they want judges to have the discretion to send offenders to treatment programs rather than prison. The Assembly's position is a blueprint for genuine reform. Under the Rockefeller statutes, even first-time offenders can face a prison term of 15 years to life for selling as little as four ounces of a controlled substance. Drug users are also liable for long prison terms, even though most experts on addiction agree that they can be better rehabilitated through treatment programs. Reform also would save taxpayers money and ease the strain on the state budget. One watchdog group, the Correctional Association of New York, estimates that overhauling drug laws could save some $250 million a year, based on a $60,000 annual cost to keep a single offender behind bars. Those costs must be weighed against the demonstrated failure of the Rockefeller statutes over the last three decades. They have never stopped drug crime in New York, as originally intended. Instead drug kingpins avoid justice by using youngsters to ply their trade, and then suffer the consequences if they are caught. Drug users, meanwhile, aren't helped by a system that leaves no room for treatment as an alternative to jail. The only staunch defenders of these draconian laws are the state's district attorneys, who use them to wring plea bargains from suspects. But what a huge cost New York is paying for that kind of strong-arm law enforcement -- a cost that must be measured not only in dollars but in far too many shattered lives as well.