Pubdate: Sun, 28 May 2000 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company Contact: 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 Fax: (212) 556-3622 Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/ Author: David Kirby Cited: Grass: http://www.grassthemovie.com/ NORML: http://www.norml.org/ Neighborhood Report: TIMES SQUARE -- BUZZ A Party Lights Up Broadway After a Movie's Premiere THE SETTING -- A screening on Monday of "Grass," a documentary by Ron Mann that chronicles the 90-year history of American marijuana laws and the sundry ways in which Americans have flouted the prohibitions against it. The showing, at the AMC Empire Theaters on West 42nd Street, was the New York premiere of the film as well as a benefit for Norml, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The film is a fairly lighthearted look at a serious subject ("No hippies were harmed in the making of this film," the credits said reassuringly.) At an after-film party at Bar Code in Times Square, gift bags contained aromatherapy candles, a copy of High Times magazine and a small, mysterious brownie in a zippered plastic bag. THE BUZZ -- "It's the film everyone's toking about," said Mr. Mann, as moviegoers milled around the high-tech video arcade and bar after the screening. The movie was warmly received by the crowd, an odd mix of gray ponytails and gray flannel suits spanning three generations. Despite an admonition against "smoking of any kind," the theater, as potheads might say, reeked. "It happens at every screening," said Mr. Mann, a Canadian in his 40's with a wild gray mane. "People light up. But it really boosts concession stand sales." One person hoping to capitalize on the well-known ravenous appetites of pot smokers was Shawn Patrick House, who was promoting his new Hempzel line of pretzels. Baked by Mennonites in Lancaster, Pa., the dough includes shelled hemp seed, imported, legally, from Canada. Mr. House said he would ask Unapix Films, the distributor of "Grass," to consider making Hempzel the "official munchie" of the movie. Among the cannabis-friendly supporters at the $50 fund-raiser was Tom Hillgardner, a lawyer, who said: "All drugs should be legal. Marijuana's just the start." Asked if he had ever broken any marijuana laws, Mr. Hillgardner roared. "There is a public record about my breaking the marijuana laws," he said. "I'm one of the few attorneys in New York State who's been admitted to the bar over and above a felony conviction. Why? I'm an excellent lawyer." Dana Beal, organizer of the annual marijuana march in Lower Manhattan, said the message of the movie was plain and simple: "Marijuana is not a hard drug and too many Americans are in jail for possession." Mr. Beal said New York under Mayor Giuliani was among the most pot-intolerant cities in America. He said there were pro-marijuana rallies this month in 100 cities, "and only in New York and three other cities were there any marijuana arrests." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake