The Remarks Of Speaker Sheldon Silver

Rockefeller Drug Law Press Conference

State Capitol, Albany, NY
Monday, May 8, 2006

Today marks the 33RD anniversary of the enactment of the Rockefeller Drug Laws.

Later this afternoon, the Assembly Majority will once again take up legislation on the floor of the House - legislation that we intend to pass - that will further reform these draconian laws.

Speaking on our bill will be:

• The Chair of the Assembly's Committee on Corrections, the prime sponsor of this legislation, and a longtime champion of Rockefeller Drug Law reform, Assembly Member Jeff Aubrey;

• And, the Chair of the Committee on Codes, also a longtime advocate for Rockefeller Drug Law reform, Assembly Member Joe Lentol.

As you can see, there are a number of our Assembly colleagues standing here in support of this reform legislation, including:

• The Chair of the Assembly's Committee on the Judiciary, Assembly Member Helene Weinstein;

• The Chair of our Committee on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Assembly Member Jeff Dinowitz;

• The Chair of the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force, Assembly Member Peter Rivera;

• The Chair of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, Assembly Member Adriano Espaillat.

We are also joined by some special guests who you will be hearing from shortly.

• Albany County District Attorney, David Soares.

• Rick and Cheri O'Donoghue, whose son Ashley is serving seven to twenty-one years for a first-time, non-violent drug offense.

• Tony Papa, who served twelve years in a maximum security prison under the Rockefeller Drug Laws before receiving clemency from the Governor in 1997. Tony is currently employed by the Drug Policy Alliance;

• And, Abukareim Shabazz, who is representing the drug treatment community.

Here in support of our legislation is longtime Rockefeller Drug Law Reform advocate, Randy Credico.

When we enacted a number of important but modest reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws in December of 2004, everyone involved in those efforts, including Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, were adamant that much more needed to be done.

Today, a year-and-a-half later, the promise of drug law reform remains unfulfilled and in fact, we are moving backwards.

The Governor and the Senate are not even proposing new reforms of any kind. Hand-in-hand, they have walked away from real reform.

The law we enacted in 2004 reduced some of the law's harshest sentences, but that law did not restore judicial discretion to sentence low level, non-violent, addicted offenders to drug treatment instead of incarceration.

Drug treatment programs are the most effective way to reduce drug-related offenses, including violent crime.

A Rand Corporation study found that dollar for dollar, drug treatment is fifteen times more effective at reducing crimes committed by drug offenders than is mandatory minimum prison sentences.

Our bill provides the judicial discretion to allow judges to sentence low level, non-violent, drug offenders to tough, effective, mandatory drug treatment programs as an alternative to incarceration, and thereby reduce drug-related crime, making our homes, our streets and our communities safer.

Our bill would also eliminate the glaring racial and ethnic disparities in our prison system. Approximately 91-percent of the drug offenders in state prison today are African American or Hispanic. That is a figure which bears absolutely no relationship to the rate at which persons in these groups use drugs or commit drug-related crimes.

We all read recently about how Rush Limbaugh was able to receive treatment rather than incarceration to deal with his drug problem. Why can't the thousands of non-violent, addicted offenders warehoused in our state prisons today receive the same consideration?

We are calling upon the Governor and the Senate to act now, to fulfill the promise of drug law reform.

Pass our bill or pass your own bill and move to a conference committee with us, but make a commitment to reform!

No more playing politics with people's lives.

No more sacrificing conscience to politics.

Governor, embrace real Rockefeller Reform, now!

Reverse the mistake made 33 years ago! Make that part of your gubernatorial legacy.