About the RDLs
What are the Rockefeller Drug Laws?
Enacted in 1973, the Rockefeller Drug Laws require lengthy prison terms for the possession or sale of a relatively small amount of drugs.
There are nearly 12,000 people in New York’s prisons incarcerated under the drug laws, most of them minor offenders with no history of violent behavior.
It costs New York $520 million a year to imprison drug offenders.
Almost 90% of the people locked up in New York for drug offenses are African American or Latino, despite research showing that the majority of people who use and sell drugs are white.
Research shows that drug treatment is less expensive than imprisonment and more successful in reducing drug-related crime.
Repealing the Rockefeller Drug Laws would save the fiscally strapped state approximately $270 million per year.
After over 35 years, it is long past time to remove the stain of these wasteful, unjust and racially biased laws from New York’s penal code.
It is time to Drop the Rock!
Click below for our most recent fact sheets:
3 Leaders Support Rockefeller Reform