ALBANY, April 15 — For years, one of the most divisive topics in New York State has been how to soften the Rockefeller-era drug laws, which sought to counter the drug scourge of the 1970's by setting long sentences even for relatively minor drug crimes.

Opponents of the laws, which were enacted at the request of Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller, often portray the laws' legacy as one in which many low-level offenders, tripped up by tough mandatory minimum prison sentences, have languished in prisons as victims of the anti heroin efforts of the day.

Proponents of the laws want change, but warn against a wholesale weakening of the laws.

But as the debate has swirled, a reality has been largely obscured: over the years, the laws have been tweaked to reduce their impact, and prosecutors have increasingly been steering addicts into treatment programs instead of sending them to prison. And perhaps most important, the number of people still imprisoned under the provisions of the original tough sanctions has been falling steadily in recent years.

Of the 16,564 drug offenders imprisoned as of April 3, fewer than 3 percent of them, or 481 people, were serving time for the state's most serious drug offenses, A-1 felonies; that number is down from the 724 imprisoned similarly in 1995. Furthermore, Gov. George E. Pataki has been using his clemency powers in the most compelling cases, releasing 26 of those prisoners during his administration. The governor has also pursued a strategy of releasing nonviolent felons, including drug offenders, early.

When the laws were instituted in 1973, Governor Rockefeller called them "the toughest antidrug program in the nation." They required a minimum sentence of 15 years to life for sale of one ounce of narcotics, or the possession of two ounces. They also increased the penalties for those caught with smaller amounts of drugs.

But as the prison population swelled, and many nonviolent offenders were sentenced to long prison terms, the outcry grew. In one well-known case, Elaine Bartlett, 46, was arrested near Albany in 1983 for selling four ounces of cocaine and sentenced to 20 years to life for the crime, which was her first offense. In another case, Anthony Papa, 49, spent 12 years in prison for making a delivery of four and a half ounces of cocaine, in 1984, in exchange for $500.

Perhaps more than any other, the issue of Rockefeller drug law reform reflects the thorny politics of New York. Neither the governor nor the state's two top legislative leaders want to appear as soft on crime. But in recent years, there has been a growing consensus that the laws are too harsh, a position that, not coincidentally, was highlighted during election years as all side have sought to appeal to black and Latino constituents, whose leaders have been most vocal in demanding changes in the laws. Just Wednesday, the Democratic-led Assembly passed its version of a bill to alter the laws, but the Senate prefers its own plan for change.

But with the passage of time, even though politicians have failed to overhaul the laws, the issue has slowly begun to sort itself out through other means, as prosecutors steer defendants toward treatment and some of those imprisoned under the laws have completed their sentences. Furthermore, far fewer people are being sentenced for A-1 drug felonies than during the crack epidemic of the early 1990's.

"We have enacted some reforms over the course of the years and we have lessened the harshness of the pre-existing Rockefeller drug laws," Mr. Pataki, a Republican, said as the issue bubbled up on Wednesday. "But having said that, I still believe there is room for significant additional reform."

As Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate's Republican Majority leader, put it, the number of inmates who deserve some type of relief may have "dwindled down to a few." But, he said, "That is no justification for keeping those few there if it is unjust."

Still, as the numbers fall, Albany's three most powerful leaders — the governor, Mr. Bruno, and the Democratic Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver — say the basic sentencing grid of the laws remains fundamentally flawed, unduly harsh and rigid.

What they have failed to agree on is how to ease the sentences, how those already in prison would be affected and whether — or how much — discretion should be given to judges to send people facing drug charges into treatment programs instead of sentencing them to mandatory minimum prison terms.

When the original laws were proposed, many legislators, police officials, prosecutors and civil libertarians opposed them. At the time, in 1973, Richard A. Brown, now the Queens district attorney, was working as a lobbyist for New York City's mayor, John V. Lindsay. He came to Albany to argue against the laws that mandated strict sentences and crimped judicial discretion.

Later, in 1979, Mr. Brown returned to Albany as counsel to Gov. Hugh L. Carey, and helped push through an amendment that scaled back a few mandated sentences, doubled the minimum amount of narcotics that would bring the most serious criminal charges (for example, to two ounces from one ounce of cocaine or heroin for an A-1 felony charge for sales) but kept the law tough.

Over the years, other changes took place, short of overhauling the law, which eased the impact on minor drug offenders.

One of them, said Michael A. Arcuri, the Oneida County district attorney, who is president of the New York State District Attorneys Association, is that prosecutors pushed to develop programs to divert otherwise prison-bound offenders to various drug treatment programs. Thousands of offenders, he said, have gone directly to community-based treatment programs rather than to jail. (Mr. Brown said the threat of tough sentences forced them to accept and stay in treatment.)

As Bridget G. Brennan, the city's special narcotics prosecutor, said: "We are more circumspect in how we exercise our discretion. And we have more options."

Another change to circumvent the laws is a plan designed by Mr. Pataki and passed the Legislature that allows those sentenced for A-1 felonies who have no history of violence to earn reductions in their sentences for good behavior. So far, nearly 60 people have left prison early in that way.

Because of the adjustments, Mr. Brown, in a turnabout, said the laws were effective tools for prosecutors. While Mr. Brown said the laws still need some changes, because low-level offenders can still be treated more severely than warranted, "All of those poster cases are gone," he said.

"While the reformers would have you believe that the prisons are just filled with small-time drug offenders who are locked up for 15 years or more, that is just not the case," Mr. Brown said. "Seventy-seven percent of drug felons in state prison today are second felony offenders. Those are the people who are responsible for the violence in the communities."

But to focus on decreasing numbers of drug inmates is misguided, said those pushing for reform or repeal of the laws.

"The fact that, over time, there have been ways that the existing law has been subverted does not change the fact that the law, as it stands, needs to be changed; we should not have to rely on back-door ways to avoid a law that is unjust," said Assemblyman Michael N. Gianaris, a Democrat who represents a Queens district. He said there were "still thousands and thousands of people sitting in jail under these laws."

Though the governor has introduced a bill to do away with the punishment of life in prison for the

A-1 felony offenders and to release many of them from prison, Mr. Silver, the Assembly speaker, has shunned it. He said that proposal sidesteps the issue of giving judges more discretion in sentencing. "The real basic issue is letting a judge evaluate circumstances," he said.

The ways that prosecutors and state officials have found to circumvent the laws is like placing a Band-Aid on a wound, but not healing it, said Robert Gangi, the executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, a group that monitors the state's prisons.

"In effect, they acknowledge that the laws are excessive," he said. "What they are doing is tinkering around the edges of a problem." He added: "What they are avoiding is addressing the heart of the problem."

Today, Class B felony offenders make up most of those imprisoned under the Rockefeller laws. According to figures from the State Department of Correctional Services, 5,312 drug offenders are now in prison on such charges. Many prosecutors point out that 3,526 of them were previous felony offenders.

But looking at the numbers, Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, a Democrat from Manhattan, noted that 1,757 of them were first offenders, suggesting the laws still need to be changed.

"It's still a lot of people," he said, shaking his head. "It's an interesting debate over statistics and semantics, and who is really in under the Rockefeller drug laws."