New York to roll back drug laws

The agreement rolls back some of the sentencing provisions pushed through the Legislature in 1973 by then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, a Republican who said they were needed to fight a drug-related “reign of terror.” The strictest provisions were removed in 2004.

Critics have long asserted the laws were racist and draconian, crowding prisons with people who would be better served with treatment. The planned changes would eliminate mandatory minimum terms for low-level nonviolent drug felonies, which could cut the prison population by thousands.