Pubdate: Wed, 26 May 1999 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 1999 The New York Times Company Contact: Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/ Pubdate: Wed, 26 May 1999 Author: Holly Catania Note: The writer is a senior research associate at the Lindesmith Center http://www.lindesmith.org/ Also: The referenced announcement is at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n531.a09.html and the Zogby poll is at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n540.a04.html Politics of Drug Reform To the Editor: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's announcement that no proposal to reform the Rockefeller drug laws will be heard by the New York State Legislature for the next 18 months is politics at its worst (front page, May 20). Mr. Silver's fear that legislators who support changing these drug laws would be considered "soft on crime" is unfounded. In a recent poll of New York State registered voters by Zogby International, a majority of voters (64 percent) said they would not consider a state legislator who supports reducing prison terms for drug offenders "soft on crime." Fifty-one percent said they were more likely to vote for a state legislator who favored a bill to reduce some drug sentences -- twice the number who said that they would be less likely to vote for a state legislator who favored such a measure. HOLLY CATANIA New York, May 21, 1999 The writer is a senior research associate at the Lindesmith Center. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake