a) The drug laws provide an incentive to police and prosecutors to concentrate enforcement efforts on minor dealers and users who are the most easily arrested, prosecuted, and penalized, rather than on the drug trade's major profiteers. Why?

• The main criterion for guilt under the drug laws is not the offenders' role in narcotics transactions, but the amount of drugs in their possession at the time of arrest.
• Drug kingpins know about this law and are rarely foolish enough to be caught carrying narcotics. They hire other people to transport drugs for them. These couriers are often caught with drugs in their possession, charged with serious felonies and given long mandatory prison sentences.

b) The drug laws fill prisons with non-violent, minor offenders and drain resources from other programs and services, such as drug treatment and education.

• There are over 15,000 drug offenders incarcerated in New York State prisons.
• In 2004, nearly 35% of the people sent to state prison were drug offenders, compared to only 11% in 1980.
• Of all drug offenders sent to NYS prisons in 2000, nearly 80% were never convicted of a violent felony.
• Over 50% of the drug offenders in NYS prisons were convicted of selling or possessing only small drug amounts.
• It cost the state over $1.7 billion to construct new prisons to house drug offenders. The annual operating expense for confining drug offenders comes to about $500 million per year.
• From 1988 to 1998, the state increased annual prison spending by $761 million. During that same time period, the state decreased annual spending on the State and City Universities of New York by approximately $615 million.