CAMPAIGN 2001: POT NO LONGER CANDIDATES' STUMBLING BLOCK

Hopefuls Say They Inhaled

Yes, says Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who as a Queens assemblyman called a
quarter-century ago for legalizing marijuana: He once smoked pot, but
didn't like it.

Among the mayoral candidates, Hevesi isn't lonely. Herman Badillo, the City
University chairman, gives a similar answer. And another candidate, Bronx
Borough President Fernando Ferrer, says he smoked it too-while "young and
foolish."

Public Advocate Mark Green won't say, but 30 years ago he did call the
"joint-to-junkie myth" a "scare tactic." Only City Council Speaker Peter
Vallone said he'd never used the stuff, and added through a spokesman that
as a youth counselor decades ago, he saw the damage that drugs in general
could do.

These pols, most now with gray hair, came up in a different era-only to
find that in 2001, the joint no longer jumps at admissions of toke-taking.

The older-but-wiser confessions blend into the current scene. President
George W. Bush confessed to former errant behavior and even former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich once copped the same plea.

Strategists watching and playing in the nascent mayoral campaign say
privately that only the potential hypocrisy and public misbehavior seem to
make pot any kind of issue at this point.

After all, it was the credibility-wrenching "didn't inhale" claim of former
President Bill Clinton that gave that story "legs," as political pros call
it. And former Rep. Susan Molinari's publicized admission a few years ago
wouldn't have so resounded if she hadn't attacked Democratic staff for
admitting to former drug experimentation.

But municipal policy on marijuana, decades after possession of a small
concealed amount was reduced to a criminal violation-the equivalent of a
speeding ticket-remains relevant.

Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani pushed it into play with a policy of
making arrests for minor offenses such as pot possession.

The ex-prosecutor has attacked "romanticizing" marijuana or viewing it as
harmless as he held forth on drug abuse.

Running for senator against Hillary Clinton, the mayor seized on her
campaign's use at one event of Billy Joel's song "Captain Jack"-even
sneeringly enunciating the words at a press conference: "Captain Jack will
get you high tonight...Just a little push and you'll be smiling."

While the candidates to replace him posture against drug abuse, none
definitively declares support for the way the Police Department's sweeps
are conducted.

Most say police officers should determine the disruptiveness of the suspect
and make arrests if appropriate.

The fatal shooting of unarmed security guard Patrick Dorismond came amid a
botched police marijuana sting.

Even Badillo, a Giuliani ally, said he'd consult his police commissioner on
such policies.

"Like sex, there is no apparent danger to the normal use of marijuana,"
Green wrote in an essay in the early 1970s. He did add that "psychological
difficulties can occur" for the "chronic user."

The extent of chronic use creating a "stylistic dependence on the weed and
its subculture...is wholly speculative," he said then.

Campaign spokesman Joe DePlasco said yesterday that Green never advocated
its use.

"Mark is an elected official and candidate, and parents and other leaders
all have a responsibility to talk about the hazards of marijuana and all
other drugs," DePlasco said. "If someone smoking pot in public is abusive
or there's any kind of misconduct, the person should be put through the
system."

Whether Green ever used it has "no bearing" on the mayor's race, DePlasco said.

Among political professionals, the New York Observer, a Manhattan weekly,
got discussion and spin machines rolling this week by pointing to Hevesi's
advocacy in 1975 of establishing a "marijuana control authority" that would
license and regulate growers, producers and distributors.

Yesterday, Hevesi spokeswoman Cathie Levine said Hevesi would not now
support legalization of marijuana. The Forest Hills Democrat has said he
could de-emphasize prosecution of small amounts, but says he discourages
its use and favors crackdowns on sale and distribution.

Staff writer Robert Polner contributed to this story. What They Say Here is
how representatives for the major mayoral candidates and Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani responded to the question, "Have you ever smoked marijuana?" Rudy
Giuliani (R): "No" - Spokeswoman Sunny Mindel Herman Badillo (R): "In the
early '60s, he tried it and did not particularly care for it." - Spokesman
James Vlasto Michael Bloomberg (potential GOP candidate): No Comment -
Spokesman Ed Skyler Fernando Ferrer (D): "Like many people of his
generation, he did, when he was young and foolish." - Spokesman John del
Cecato Mark Green (D): "We hate to be party poopers, but Mark doesn't
answer have-you-ever questions." - Spokesman Joseph DePlasco Alan Hevesi
(D): "He tried it once and didn't like it." - Spokeswoman Cathie Levine
Peter Vallone (D): "No. Never did, never will." - Spokesman Michael Regan