Any Day Now: NY's Pending Drug Law Reform

by Matt Kelley · 2009-03-27 06:57:00 UTC
Topics:

New York State lawmakers have apparently reached a tentative deal that would end the harsh mandatory minimums for drug offenders that have filled the state's prisons with non-violent offenders for nearly three decades. The news this morning is that the deal is not yet closed, but the New York Times reported yesterday that there's broad agreement among major players in talks to repeal the Rockefeller laws.

After the jump, take action to make sure the reforms don't get lost in the details.

The deal would return discretion back to judges and expand the state's use of drug courts and drug treatment for drug users caught up in the criminal justice system.

Recently, Russell Simmons and Drug Policy Alliance Organizing Director Gabriel Sayegh wrote here on change.org about the damage caused by decades of harsh sentences and the critical need to repeal the laws now.

Today, the Drug Policy Alliance is calling on you to help bring real reform to a close in Albany. Write to New York State lawmakers and tell them the whole country is watching, and the details make the plan.

(Above, NY Gov. David Patterson, left, and Russell Simmons)

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
PREVIOUS STORY:
What's So Funny About Legalizing Pot?
NEXT STORY:
DJJ Won't Let Youth Into Meeting about Prison Conditions

COMMENTS (3)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.