REEFER MADNESS AFFLICTS RUDY'S NY

PATRICK DORISMOND, the unarmed security guard killed last month by an
undercover New York police officer, is the latest victim of
longstanding and dangerous myths about marijuana.

And Rudolph Giuliani-who responded to an increasing homicide rate by
initiating Operation Condor, which targets low-level drug activity -is
the latest politician to justify repressive public policy by cynically
perpetuating these distortions.

In the '40s and '50s, the government tried to convince the public that
marijuana smokers became depraved killers. Later, they said marijuana
caused insanity and moral degeneration. After that, there was the
"gateway theory" that marijuana led inevitably to use of harder drugs,
like heroin and cocaine.

The most venerable version of this hysteria, and apparently the most
durable, is that pot smokers kill. Despite the prevalence of these
myths, the generation of Americans that came of age during the late
'60s and '70s (my generation) used marijuana freely. It was part of
the expansion of personal, social and political consciousness that
marked the period. Many of us who experimented with marijuana during
that time went on to become teachers, doctors, lawyers, accountants,
scientists and businessmen. A few became president, vice president and
governors.

So we either have a country run by potential killers and moral
degenerates or-more likely -marijuana is not nearly so harmful as it
has been portrayed.

Therefore, I am perplexed at the rationale provided by the mayor and
police commissioner to explain why we are arresting tens of thousands
of New Yorkers each year for possessing or selling small amounts of
marijuana.

According to these officials, the arrests are necessary to fight the
increase in homicide in the past year. I've known people under the
influence of marijuana to attack any nearby snack, but I've never
heard that smoking a joint would make someone shoot his wife or punch
a cop.

Yet that is what New Yorkers are being asked to believe and this is
the type of policing we are being asked to pay for. To date, Operation
Condor has cost the city an additional $24 million in police overtime,
which doesn't include costs for court administration and legal services.

According to Commissioner Howard Safir, since Operation Condor was
initiated in January, more than 21,000 arrests have been made. No
matter that the arrests are overwhelmingly for misdemeanors such as
smoking a joint, drinking in public or that perennial favorite,
spitting on the street. No crime, it seems, is too petty to go
unpunished. And now a man is dead because he took offense when
plainclothes officers approached him asking if he knew where marijuana
could be obtained.

In releasing the records about Dorismond's past encounters with the
police and judicial system, city officials have asserted that he
demonstrated a propensity to violence. But when the officers
approached Dorismond looking to make another arrest, they didn't have
any evidence of wrongdoing. They had a "profile" and he fit it.

Possession or use of up to 25 grams of marijuana in the home is a
violation under New York law, punishable with a fine of up to $100.
Spending $24 million to arrest marijuana smokers makes as much sense
as spending it to arrest people who drink beer in public, jaywalk or
beg in public-all crimes that will get you a day in the slammer in
Rudolph Giuliani's New York.

This is real reefer madness. If we don't stop it, more people,
primarily young African-American men, will be killed. Those of us who
experimented with marijuana must stand up for the right of present-day
marijuana users not to be demonized, arrested and possibly shot.
Marijuana use is not related to violent crime. Let's stop pretending
that it is.