Talking about drugs and the hip hop community, but on a more positive note, Russell Simmons of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network says that lobbying by key players in the hip hop community was crucial in getting New York's draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws reformed. Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have reached a bi-partisan legislative agreement that will see a restructuring of the 30 year old drug law rules that dish out long prison sentences for relatively minor drugs offences. Those rules have done little to stop drug usage in the city but, many argue, do push young impressionable people, especially in the black community, into prison and, by extension, a life of crime.
Commenting on the move to reform the rules, Simmons told AllHipHop.com: "It's because of the artists. There's no way that it would have happened without the help of Jay-Z and Puffy and all the people who contributed. All those people really worked hard, they pushed, and it's really the power of hip-hop that made that happen. People came out, it was a big deal. This is the first step. There [are] laws like this all over the country."