Last year, one student was caught by postal inspectors for receiving two kilos of marijuana. The Harvard Police confiscated the pot and the student was placed on probation.

"I think kids have gone back to beer and booze," Smith said. "It's an alternative that is cheaper and legal."

Smith said that the Harvard Police will not investigate drug traffic here unless it is a threat to the Harvard community--if an outsider, for instance, is dealing to the community. "Then the criminal element gets involved," he said, "and there is a potential danger of armed robbery or harm to students."

Archie C. Epps III, dean of students, said that he has seen drug use at Harvard "decline dramatically" since the early '70s and he hopes it continues. Epps feels that even pot use has declined.

Epps attributes the decline to better law enforcement regarding the entry of drugs into the city.

"Also," he said, "I think this generation of college students saw some of the bad experiences, such as bad trips and overdoses, that their elders had and I think they learned from them."

Epps remarked that Harvard both disciplines and tries to rehabilitate the student user.

"We went through some pretty horrible times three or four years ago--we have that experience in mind. People get involved in the criminal element. Drugs can cause serious disorders, and we remember them pretty well," Epps said.

Smith predicted the eventual legalization of marijuana. "I can support it in the sense that I can't see ruining someone's record for possession of an ounce or something."

As far as the police are concerned, Smith said, there is a big difference between possession of an ounce and two kilos as to what constitutes a threat to the Harvard community."

Dr. Paul Walters, chief of the Mental Health Service at UHS, said that students have been reporting an abundance of "amphetamine-type drugs" on the street, such as mescaline and PCPs. Though these drugs have been circulating in the student population, Walters reports no health or drug problems so far.

"Heavy drug use has declined since the early '70s," Walters said, "especially the use of hallucinogens."

Walters does not regard pot as a potential health problem because he has not seen it "disrupt anyone's life. People seem to be able to live with pot."

The personnel in the UHS emergency room only recall a few isolated cases of student overdoses.

Walters said, "I can't recall any specific overdose cases, but once in a while a student will take some bad drugs and will come in."