| They are still apparently working out the details, but it appears that an agreement has finally been achieved on repealing our ridiculous and cruel regime of narcotics laws. It's fantastic news for those who dearly need treatment for their addictions, for the families torn apart by mandatory minimum sentences, for the judges about to have their hands untied and even for the three men in a room who desperately need a win on something, anything, after the last few weeks.
Albany Reaches Deal to Repeal '70s-Era Drug Laws
Gov. David A. Paterson and New York legislative leaders have reached an agreement to dismantle much of what remains of the state's strict 1970s-era drug laws, once among the toughest in the nation.
The deal would repeal many of the mandatory minimum prison sentences now in place for lower-level drug felons, giving judges the authority to send first-time nonviolent offenders to treatment instead of prison.
The plan would also expand drug treatment programs and widen the reach of drug courts at a cost of at least $50 million.
New York's drug sentencing laws, imposed during a heroin epidemic that was devastating urban areas nearly four decades ago, helped spur a nationwide trend toward mandatory sentences in drug crimes. But as many other states moved to roll back the mandatory minimum sentences in recent years, New York kept its laws on the books, leaving prosecutors with the sole discretion of whether offenders could be sent to treatment.
...
Passing drug law revisions would give Senate Democrats a significant legislative victory at a time when Republicans are hammering them, saying they are disorganized and ineffective.
Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, a Manhattan Democrat who has led the effort in the Senate to overhaul the drug statutes, said he was confident he had support in the Senate to pass the plan.
"It's no secret the Senate's old majority was the primary barrier to reforming our drug laws," he said. "But this is one of the reasons we fought so hard to take the majority. This is what our supporters have expected us to do."
This four decade long experiment proved to be an utter disaster that destroyed families, especially those of people of color, denied judges the discretion to serve justice and led to the distortion of the state's political system by taking poor urban drug offenders from their communities and placing them in rural upstate prisons where they were counted as residents for purposes of apportionment, funding and redistricting.
It's profoundly disappointing that it has taken so long to finally repeal much of this sad abomination, but I guess it's better late than never. And let's face it, those folks in Albany needed this pretty bad as well, particularly Paterson and Smith. |
