PATAKI INTENSIFIES PUSH FOR DRUG-LAW REFORMS

ALBANY -- The Pataki administration has revved up its efforts to negotiate
a rewrite of New York's drug laws, floating a new proposal and putting on a
full-court press by its criminal-justice chief.

Talks have intensified over the past three weeks as Gov. George Pataki has
made a push to make changes during this election year, lawmakers said. The
Republican offered a new plan giving judges more leeway in sentencing and
more power to order drug treatment.

This is the third proposal Pataki has made since he made rewriting the drug
laws a cornerstone of his 2001 State-of-the-State address. Advocates for
reform said Pataki's plan doesn't go far enough, yet it demonstrates a new
urgency to get something done.

"It's enough of a change to show they're serious," said former Sen. John
Dunne, who 29 years ago sponsored the state's mandatory sentencing laws but
who is now a leading reform advocate.

Even lawmakers who don't support an overhaul said the political grounds are
shifting. Republicans who control the state Senate, who have resisted
changes, are drawing up a new proposal for smaller-scale reform.

"We're hoping that we can do something this (legislative) session," said
Sen. Dale Volker, R-Depew, Erie County, chairman of the Senate Codes
Committee, which oversees criminal statutes.

Chauncey Parker, who became Pataki's criminal-justice chief earlier this
year, said he's been working full-time on the issue. "This is the No. 1
priority the governor has set for me," Parker said.

Enacted under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in 1973, New York's drug laws are
considered among the nation's harshest. Offenders can receive life terms
for possessing or selling even small amounts of narcotics. The laws grant
judges little discretion on sentencing people convicted of certain felonies.