SCANDOLA

Cops posing as drug dealers arrested 72 wouldbe marijuana buyers in an
unprecedented "reverse sting" in Washington Square Park, Mayor Giuliani
said yesterday.

The sting operation, in which cops sell real marijuana, began in the
Greenwich Village park last Wednesday and will be expanded to six more
parks this week.

Giuliani and Police Commissioner Howard Safir announced the drug arrests
during a ceremony at Brooklyn's Maria Hernandez Park named after a
community activist who was murdered the day before she was supposed to
testify against a dealer.

"Drug activity simply won't be tolerated in or near our parks, as they
shouldn't be tolerated in or near our schools or neighborhoods," Giuliani
said at the Bushwick ceremony.

"If you come to the parks to buy drugs, especially Washington Square Park,
the probability is you'll be buying drugs from a police officer and you're
going to get arrested," said Safir.

Among the busted buyers: a college professor, two caseworkers from the
city's Human Resources Administration, and a Daily News maintenance worker,
cops said.

Safir said police patrols would normally make a dozen drug arrests over a
similar period of time.

"We sell them real marijuana, but we take precautions to make sure none of
the marijuana gets out of our sight or ingested," said Safir.

Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union,
said he's concerned that some cops might snare people who had not intended
to buy drugs.

"With police now being the seller rather than the buyer, there's more
potential for entrapment. We'll have to monitor this and see what goes on
with it," said Siegel.

But Safir said there's no chance for entrapment.

"It's only entrapment if you cause somebody to do something that they did
not intend to do before. And we're not doing that," he said. "The standard
is that you follow the same reasonable business practices that drug dealers
would follow."

Also designated as drugfree zones are Lincoln Terrace and Foster parks in
Brooklyn, Poe Park in The Bronx, Markham Playground in Staten Island and
Linden and Rufus King parks in Queens.

Ruth Messinger accused the mayor of not putting enough funding into treatment.

"We need to pay attention to providing drug treatment on demand if we want
to deal with the scourge of drugs," she said.