PROSECUTORS URGE NO CHANGE IN STRICT DRUG LAWS

ALBANY, April 3 -- The nation's former top drug enforcement official,
Thomas A. Constantine, lent his voice today to the fight to preserve New
York's mandatory drug sentencing laws, joining prosecutors from across the
state who testified before state lawmakers here.

The governor and leaders of the two houses of the Legislature have proposed
changes to the strict Rockefeller-era drug laws, and the state's
prosecutors have spent the last several weeks lobbying against far-reaching
changes. Today, four prosecutors, Robert M. Carney of Schenectady County,
William J. Fitzpatrick of Onondaga County, Richard A. Brown of Queens and
Bridget B. Brennan of the Office of Special Narcotics in Manhattan,
presented their case at a hearing of the Senate Codes Committee.

The threat of stiff mandatory sentences, they told lawmakers, has been a
vital hammer to hold over the heads of drug dealers, and has contributed to
the radical reductions in crime.

Mr. Constantine, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration under
President Clinton from 1994 to 1999, was not on the agenda. He sat quietly
at the table, next to the prosecutors, and at the end of the meeting was
granted the floor. "I've become very concerned that the voice of victims is
not being heard," he told the panel.

Mr. Constantine's remarks came at a testy meeting. Some Democratic senators
questioned the prosecutors' assertion that mandatory sentences led to lower
crime. Crime, they argued, had dropped nationwide.

Others asked why the vast majority of drug offenders in prison are black
and Hispanic, when most drug users in the country are white. Prosecutors
insisted that residents of minority communities are not clamoring for
shorter sentences.

Several relatives of people imprisoned under the Rockefeller drug laws
tried to get a word in. But they were not on the list of speakers.