among those who have a mental illness, the records indicate that the states use of the drugs can be overly aggressive. During the last few months, as The Times has sought information about the states use of medications, the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities has acknowledged that there are problems, and began to develop sweeping guidelines for the use of medication. The new rules say medications shall not be used for disciplinary purposes or as a substitute for supervision. We know that less intrusive techniques work, said Courtney Burke, commissioner of the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, which oversees thousands of group homes and larger state facilities. Ms. Burke said her agency was developing software to track the use of psychotropic drugs better and was creating a position, a chief of pharmacy, to oversee how drugs are used. New regulations, she added, would help move the system to one that does not rely on medication or physical intervention. The Clinicians View Diana Valitutto, a former state psychologist, said she resigned from the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities in 2004 after concerns she raised about the use of psychotropic medications were ignored. While she said she believed drugs were justified at times, she added, from my experience, they dont make genuine permanent changes in behavior, they simply control the client for the time being. State law says that no medication shall be used for the convenience of staff and that special attention shall be given to those individuals receiving psychotropic medication. But oversight is limited. Although psychotropic drug use is supposed to be regularly reviewed, records show those reviews are seldom rigorous. The bar is higher in Massachusetts, for example, where state officials must have the approval of a judge to use drugs classified as antipsychotic. Its worked well to protect people with mental health and cognitive impairments over the years, said Marianne Meacham, general counsel at the Department of Developmental Services in Massachusetts. Its somewhat burdensome, but its definitely an important protection. In New York, Ms. Valitutto grew so worried about the overuse of drugs that she went to the Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons With Disabilities, a state oversight agency, with examples of residents on what she believed were overly aggressive regimens of psychotropic medications. I saw people being medicated to control behavior to such a degree that to me it was obviously and clearly affecting their health, their safety, their quality of life, their ability to participate in the daily activities of living, and in some cases threatened their lives, Ms. Valitutto said. Ms. Valitutto said there was little consistency in how drugs were used: In central New York, she said, they were dispensed carefully and ethically. But that was not the case in the Albany area. A retired state psychologist who was approached independently by The Times vouched for Ms. Valituttos professionalism and offered a similar account, saying the residents in that region were often treated with multiple medications from the same class, a practice discouraged by the medical establishment. We would