A POTSHOT AT MAYOR

Mike's Star Of Pro-Marijuana Group's Ad Campaign

Mayor Bloomberg, chief executive pothead?

Apparently that's the view of a national pro-marijuana group, which is set
to unveil a $500,000 ad campaign today starring Bloomberg.

When asked whether he had ever smoked pot, he declared last year, "You bet
I did. And I enjoyed it."

The comment, which Bloomberg made last summer to New York magazine while
still a longshot candidate, was a glib one-liner aimed at highlighting his
speak-from-the-hip style.

But the mayor barely mustered a smile yesterday when asked about being the
new poster boy for the Washington-based National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"I am not thrilled they are using my name," Bloomberg said, who
nevertheless added that he won't try to halt the ads on legal grounds. "I
suppose there's that First Amendment that gets in the way of me stopping it."

A spokesman for NORML said the campaign is intended to generate support for
rolling back the NYPD's policy, instituted under former Mayor Rudy
Giuliani, of arresting and jailing anyone caught smoking marijuana in public.

The ads, which will be plastered in city subway stations, on buses and in
newspapers, will feature a picture of Bloomberg, his quote on smoking pot
and a tag line that will read, "It's NORML to Smoke Pot."

Police had issued no-jail citations to public pot smokers, much as they do
to anyone caught swigging alcohol in public. "We are not advocating that
people smoke marijuana in public," said Nicholas Thimmesch, communications
director of NORML. "We are just saying that when someone does that, it
doesn't make any sense to arrest them, incarcerate them and tie up valuable
police time."

But Bloomberg seemed unmoved yesterday, saying, "We should enforce the laws
as they are, and the Police Department will do so vigorously."

The mayor did not elaborate on his pot-smoking history. But he has never
refuted the New York magazine quote, nor has he made any secret of his
often wild college and bachelor days.

Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore from 1960 to 1964,
where he joined a fraternity that he once described in his book, "Bloomberg
by Bloomberg," as not "much different from those in the classic John
Belushi movie 'Animal House.'"

"Though Hopkins was a serious place, and very competitive scholastically,
we did drink and party a lot together," he wrote. "Maybe all that enjoyable
'wasted' time had long-term benefits after all."

Yesterday, the group attempted to take the high road with Bloomberg, whom
it praised for going where few politicians have dared venture. "We are very
happy that the mayor has expressed his own personal experience with
marijuana," Thimmesch said. "And what we say is, 'At last, an honest
politician.'"

The crackdown on city pot smokers has been dramatic. In 1992, 720 people
were busted for toking in city streets or parks. By 1999, that number had
soared to 33,471 as Giuliani pushed his zero-tolerance policy, which has
remained largely in effect.

Bloomberg's decision not to go after the pro-marijuana group in court is in
stark contrast to Giuliani, who sued New York magazine in 1997 after the
weekly used his image, without permission, in ads touting it as "possibly
the only good thing in New York Rudy hasn't taken credit for."

Although Giuliani convinced the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to
remove the offending ads from city buses and subways, a federal court found
that the MTA's decision had violated the magazine's free-speech rights.

[INSET]

IN GOOD COMPANY

Author: Matt Murphy

Bill Clinton: Ex-Prez admitted that he had smoked pot in his youth, but
"didn't inhale."

Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla): Mack denied using marijuana, only to admit that
he had lie. Mack, then 48, said he smoked pot "more than once but not
often" when he was in his 30's.

Bill Bradley: While campaigning for his failed presidential bid, Bradley
told ABC reporter Sam Donaldson he had smoked pot when he was younger and
even inhaled. The confession prompted Donaldson to admit he also had tried
the drug.

Gov. Pataki: He wrote in a memoir that he and some friends at Columbia Law
School tried pot by cooking it with baked beans and eating it. They
eventually tried a more conventional method. "And, yes, I did inhale," he
wrote, quickly adding that it had "no real appeal" because friends who used
it "tended to just go off in their own heads somewhere" and the effect "was
too anti-social for me."

Al Gore: Confessed in 1987 that he and his wife, Tipper, had smoked pot
but said they regretted it. Former veep said he used the drug "once or
twice in college, in the Army [in Vietnam] and once or twice in graduate
school." On breaking the news to his children, Gore said, "My 5-year-old
son said, 'Daddy, did it make you sick?' and I said no."

Douglas Ginsburg: His admission that he had smoked pot was so damaging
that he was forced to withdraw his nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court in
1987. Confession prompted a frenzy of questioning by the media into the
drug habits of many public officials. Several politicians came forward to
say they had tried pot when they were younger.

Newt Gingrich: In 1995, the former House speaker admitted to The Economist
that he had smoked marijuana in the 1970s, saying that smoking pot "was a
sign that we were alive and in graduate school in that era." But in 1987,
Gingrich told and Atlanta TV station that he had smoked pot once but it had
no effect on him. "The historical record is that [in 1969], I used
marijuana once at a party late at night in New Orleans."