WEED IS BACK ON N.O. DRUG RADAR

Marijuana Arrests Zoom Up 70% In Past 2 Years

Longtime self-described "dopeman" Bob Bardy, commander of the New Orleans
Police Department's Narcotics Unit, sure would like to talk about heroin.
Or raves, such a big deal now, or OxyContin, a real migraine for police, or
even methamphetamine labs in the woods.

But marijuana? What more is there to say about marijuana?

Plenty, as it turns out. Researchers have declared New Orleans to be in the
grip of a nationwide resurgence in the drug's popularity, what they're
calling the new marijuana epidemic. An unconventional district attorney
candidate and avowed marijuana user has used his campaign soapbox to loudly
preach the virtues of decriminalizing the drug. As for the increased police
efforts to chip away at the deadliest part of the drug industry, one of the
hardest crackdowns -- perhaps inadvertently -- has been on marijuana users
citywide.

As a result, what is frequently considered a pastime for aging baby
boomers, a hobby for suburban teenagers and an analgesic for elderly
glaucoma sufferers has gained a higher profile recently. And although some
cities, states and countries are passing more lenient marijuana laws, New
Orleans remains unflinchingly -- some say unreasonably -- tough on potheads.

"I look at drug enforcement as people look at Prohibition," Bardy said.
"Our job is to enforce the law until legislators change it."

And enforce it officers have. Noticing a correlation between hard drug use
and murder, two crime categories that skyrocketed in the 1990s, the
administration of former Police Superintendent Richard Pennington beefed up
narcotics patrols substantially. A zero-tolerance plan, which began in July
2000, at least doubled the number of officers assigned in each district to
handle drugs, aiming its biggest guns at heroin and cocaine. The results,
by some standards, have been staggering.

Arrests skyrocket

Combined cocaine, heroin and marijuana arrests rose from 2,525 in the first
half of 2000 to 3,907 in the first half of this year. Arrests for hard
drugs increased 38 percent. Marijuana arrests, though, which make up more
than half of the total, far outpaced them, mushrooming 70 percent between
the first half of 2000 and the same time period in 2002. Statistics from a
recent study and the district attorney's office show a similar trend.
Between 1997 and 2001, the number of people charged with marijuana
possession increased 94 percent, from 1,519 to 2,947, while those charged
with marijuana distribution or intent to distribute rose only 55 percent,
from 174 to 270.

The crackdown on drugs also manifests itself in Orleans Parish Criminal
District Court. Even before stepped-up narcotics patrols, nearly half of
all convictions were for possession of drugs -- compared with a 13 percent
average in other state courts, according to a new study by the Metropolitan
Crime Commission. The study, which tracked a sample of arrests from June 1,
1999 to May 31, 2000, also concluded that one of every four convictions in
criminal court in New Orleans was for first-offense possession of marijuana.

And the numbers are likely to climb. Criminal District Court Judge Leon
Cannizzaro said the vast majority of cases he sees involve small quantities
of marijuana. When he began overseeing a drug court in the mid-1990s, he
said seven of every 10 pot cases were for simple possession, the least
serious drug offense, punishable by as much as $500 in fines and six months
in prison. Now, nine in 10 are for possession, he said.

Skeptics weigh in

Skeptics, including Gary Wainwright, who is running for New Orleans
district attorney, say these are the results of a drug war gone wrong, one
that targets harmless users rather than the most dangerous criminals.

Police are preying on people rolling a joint, he said, rather than those
hawking a pound, in an effort to boost total arrests to make the crackdown
seem more successful than it is.

That is the reason "fingers are on triggers," a self-proclaimed marijuana
user in the French Quarter said, because not many are murdering on
marijuana's account.

Not so, Bardy said, noting that New Orleans has been "lavishing in a 27
percent reduction in violent crime" since the NOPD upped narcotics patrols.
"Nobody is disproportionately making arrests to make numbers," he said.

If people have illegal drugs, police don't have the authority to cut them
loose if they rat on dealers farther up the food chain, Bardy said. He
contends the steep rise in arrests for marijuana possession is merely a
function of the drug's increased presence on the streets, because "police
officers do not have discretion to arrest or not arrest." So by order from
above, whether an officer finds a truckload of heroin or a candy jar of
marijuana, Bardy said, the owner will be arrested.

Study sees epidemic

A 23-city study conducted by the National Institute of Justice, the
research arm of the Justice Department, seems to support his position,
claiming a marijuana epidemic among children and citing a 37 percent rise
in marijuana use among young people arrested in New Orleans in the early
1990s, a result typical of the national trend. In each year since 1995,
between 50 percent and 60 percent of 18- to 20-year-olds arrested in New
Orleans tested positive for marijuana, according to the 2001 report, which
said weed is once again the drug of choice for a generation of young
adults, regaining favor after a hiatus in the 1980s, when cocaine use rose
dramatically.

While New Orleans police enforce the law vigorously, an approach the
Justice Department commends, officials elsewhere are trying a different
tack. Parts of the western United States, including California and Nevada,
have moved to legalize small amounts of marijuana for recreational or
medicinal use. In south London, police in July began a de facto
decriminalization of the drug, deciding to stop arresting people for simple
marijuana possession and direct efforts toward harder drugs and more
dangerous crime.

That's similar to what Wainwright said he plans to do if he's elected
Orleans Parish district attorney in the fall. In sweeping condemnations, he
has repeatedly declared the NOPD's drug war "a misguided failure" and a
misuse of police resources.

"Violent crime is produced by drug prohibition," he said. "When we had
alcohol prohibition, we had armed gangs engaging in public shoot-outs to
distribute alcohol. Now we have drug prohibition, armed gangs engaging in
public shoot-outs to control turf to distribute drugs."

But Bardy said the department's activity has made a difference in reducing
crime. Barring a change in legislation or a radical new district attorney,
pot smokers will not get a break anytime soon.

"We won't turn a deaf ear or a blind eye to marijuana enforcement," he
said. "Our job is ensuring everyone in direct violation of the law is arrested."