DRUG AGENCY CHIEF QUITTING

Albany-- Jean Miller's Exit Comes As Lawmakers Consider Changes to the
Rockefeller Drug Laws

As lawmakers wrangle over drug law reform that could divert thousands of
substance abusers into New York's already-strapped treatment system, the
head of the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services is
poised to step down, officials said. Jean Miller, agency commissioner for
almost seven years, will leave next month to join the lobbying firm of
Patricia Lynch, former press secretary to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver,
D-Manhattan, said agency spokeswoman Jennifer Sandu.

Miller joined the Division of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse as an attorney
in 1992, the year that agency merged with the Division of Substance Abuse
Services. She was appointed commissioner of the new entity by Gov. George
Pataki in 1995 and presided over the long, and many say, successful, union
of the two divisions.

"She is leaving after having achieved a great and long-awaited
accomplishment," said Gayle Farman, executive director of the New York
State Council of Community Behavioral Healthcare.

Miller is also departing at a crucial time for an agency that oversees some
1,200 community-based groups, which treat about 120,000 patients a year.
Lawmakers appear more serious about amending the Rockefeller Drug Laws to
divert drug offenders into treatment.

Among names circulating as a possible successor to Miller are John Coppola,
executive director of the New York Association of Alcohol and Substance
Abuse Providers, and Robert Bruno, associate commissioner for the division
of health and planning services at the substance abuse agency. Bruno is the
brother of state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick.

Robert Anderson, director of community services in Steuben and Allegany
counties, has also expressed interest in the job. Pataki spokesman Michael
McKeon said the administration does not discuss personnel decisions until
an announcement is made.