"According to statistics from the office of Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon,468 defendants who faced low-level drug charges have been referred to HOPE, of which 361 completed the program and had their charges withdrawn.....But because it excludes defendants with felonies on their records, for every one defendant referred to the program, two are barred from entry, said Melissa Moore, deputy state director of the New York office for the Drug Policy Alliance."

New York Law Journal

June 25, 2018