Albany Takes Step to Repeal Rockefeller Drug Laws

[kpete]

Source: New York Times

Albany Takes Step to Repeal Rockefeller Drug Laws
By JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: March 4, 2009

ALBANY — The State Assembly on Wednesday announced that it has agreed to pass legislation to repeal much of what remains of the state’s 1970s-era drug laws.

The proposal, scheduled to come to a floor vote late Wednesday afternoon, would be the first pivotal step in a push to dismantle the laws that tied judges’ hands and imposed mandatory prison terms for many nonviolent drug offenses.

The Assembly’s proposal restores judges’ discretion in sentencing in many lower-level drug possession crimes. Judges would be able to send many offenders to treatment programs instead of prison without receiving consent from prosecutors. In addition, the measure would permit about 2,000 prisoners to apply to have their sentences reconsidered.

The drug laws have been among the most divisive social issues debated by Albany lawmakers. Bills aimed at changing the statutes, known as the Rockefeller drug laws because former Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller championed them, have been debated in the Legislature for years, only to stall in the Senate, which until this year was run by Republicans.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/nyregion/05rockefeller.html?_r=1&hp

[Royal Sloan 09]

1. K & R, Solution = Legalize

Yes, We Cannabis!

:kick: :smoke: :thumbsup:

[pleah]

2. K&R

[Double T]

3. Maybe NY will finally come out of the stone age with this archaic set of laws.

Probably the ONLY REASON the legislature is considering it is due to necessary budget reductions in the prison systems. Better than not at all!

[kenichol]

4. Yes, yes, yes

These mandatory minimum laws have filled our (private and other) prisons and put undeserving prisoners in cauldrons of hate and racism. On second thought, no one belongs in cauldrons of hate and racism, but those convicted of non-violent drug offenses should never have been sentenced to prison. Addiction is a health issue; profiting from dealing is a result of our prohibition laws.
Good for New York.

[Wizard777]

5. At the very least it's a step in the right direction.

[Danger Mouse]

6. About damn time.

[No Elephants]

7. Nixon declared the War on Drugs, the first imaginary war, in 1971. Rocky followed suit.