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The Rockefeller drug laws is the colloquial term used to denote the statutes dealing with the sale and possession of "narcotic" drugs in the New York State Penal Law. The laws are named for Nelson Rockefeller, who was the state's governor at the time the laws were adopted. Rockefeller, a staunch supporter of the bill containing the laws, signed it on May 8, 1973.
Under the Rockefeller drug laws, the penalty for selling two ounces (approximately 56 grams) or more of heroin, morphine, "raw or prepared opium," cocaine, or cannabis, including marijuana (these latter two being included in the statute even though they are not "narcotics" from a chemical standpoint), or possessing four ounces (approximately 128 grams) or more of the same substances, was made the same as that for second-degree murder: A minimum of 15 years to life in prison, and a maximum of 25 years to life in prison. The original legislation also mandated the same penalty for committing a violent crime while under the influence of the same drugs, but this provision was subsequently omitted from the bill and was not part of the legislation Rockefeller ultimately signed. The section of the laws applying to marijuana was repealed in 1979.
The adoption of the Rockefeller drug laws gave New York State the distinction of having the toughest laws of its kind in the entire United States — an approach soon imitated by the state of Michigan, which in 1978 enacted a "650-Lifer Law" which called for life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the sale, manufacture, or even possession of at least 650 grams (approximately 1.45 pounds) of cocaine or any Schedule I or Schedule II opiate.
Both the New York and Michigan statutes have come under harsh criticism from political liberals, who see inherent unfairness in placing the non-violent crime of drug trafficking on a par with murder. The laws have also drawn intense opposition from civil rights advocates, who claim that they are applied inordinately to African-Americans, and to a lesser extent, Hispanics. Michigan's statute was reformed somewhat in 1998, with the mandatory life sentence being reduced to a 20-year minimum, and on December 14, 2004 New York State Governor George Pataki signed legislation reducing the penalty for conviction on the most serious drug charge in that state to from 8 to 30 years in prison, depending on the defendant's prior criminal history; in addition, the weight thresholds for the most serious charge were doubled, to four ounces in cases of sale and eight ounces in cases of possession.
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