NEW YORK STATE -- Juan Jordan calls them lost years.
"They could have helped me to address my problem. Instead they sent me to jail," Jordan said.
Hooked on heroin, the Bronx man was caught selling drugs in the early ‘80s. As soon as he got out, he would be back dealing again, serving in all 12-and-a-half years.
“I was selling drugs to support my habit. And that was everything that I know to do,” Jordan said.” I was a heroin addict."
His travails mirror many since May 8th, 1973, when Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed bills stiffening punishment for drug crimes. It made New York safer, but at a huge cost, say those marking the anniversary.
"Thirty-five years of Rockefeller drug laws means that tens of thousands of people's lives have been wasted. People who have might justly have served two or three or four years went behind for 12 or 13 or 14 years," said Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance.
New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws mark 35 years on the books. The controversial laws were enacted by and named for then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller and enforce some of the most severe penalties for drug offenses in the nation. After years of calls for reform to the laws, the State Assembly is holding public hearings to examine the impact of the laws on drug addiction and drug-related crime. Josh Robin was at one of those hearings in New York City and has details.
And it's been years of protests, as Thursday members of the state Assembly pressed for further changes to untie judges in drug cases.
"For major crimes like murders, judges have the final say. When it comes to drug cases, he has to defer to the district attorney. What kind of justice is that?" asked Joe Lentol.
Governor Paterson is a strong opponent of the laws, even getting arrested at a 2002 rally when he was a state senator. He and State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno deferred to a commission examining the state's sentencing.
But despite all of the passion, critics pose a question -- how much reform is actually needed?
"When you're looking at the Rockefeller drug laws, keep in mind the problems that they were looking to address and they were very successful and addressing those problems," said Bridget Brennan, a special narcotics prosecutor.
That was a scourge of heroin, followed by crack.
Drug crimes are now dropping. From more than 23,000 state inmates in 1996 to a little more than 13,000 thousand this year. It’s the lowers it has been in 20 years and only accounts for a fifth of the prison population
New York's special narcotics prosecutor criticizes recent changes in the last few years, which she says aided high-level traffickers.
"We also don't want to start to see crime escalate in neighborhoods in the city that are still overrun with drug dealing," Brennan said.
She advocates drug treatment for addicts, a goal also pushed by those opposing the law.