National surveys indicate that marijuana use is up, but the increase is not nearly as steep as the surge in arrests. According to a University of Michigan study last year, half the high-school seniors surveyed nationwide said they had tried the drug, up from a third who said they had used it six years ago.

In New York, the increase in arrests grew out of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's pledge last year to make the fight on drugs, including marijuana, a major goal of his second term. The city's efforts have been particularly visible in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The park once resembled a farmer's market for marijuana sales, but now has its own police command post and is monitored by closed-circuit cameras.

''The community in general is tired of walking through the park and being hassled by having someone yelling 'Smoke, smoke' at them,'' said Arthur Strickler, district manager of Community Board 2 in the Village.

So far this year, marijuana arrests have surpassed the previous record of 27,264 people in 1997, the police said. ''We have changed the traditional strategy,'' said Chief Martin O'Boyle, commander of the Organized Crime Control Bureau, which oversees drug enforcement efforts. He said officers now concentrate more on sting operations against buyers and less on having undercover officers buy from marijuana dealers, who even when caught do little jail time. ''Now we try to discourage the customers,'' Chief O'Boyle said.

Although the arrest numbers are way up, those charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana do not face more severe penalties. First offenders caught with as much as several ounces of the drug -- which sells for roughly $125 per ounce depending on the strength -- are eligible for a probation program known as adjournment contemplating dismissal, in which charges are dismissed if a defendant stays out of trouble for a set period of time.

During the last six months, for example, the Manhattan District Attorney's office said that of 4,866 defendants whose low-level-possession cases were disposed of at arraignment, 63 percent were adjourned contemplating dismissal.

But by the time the defendants were arraigned, several criminal defense lawyers said, their clients had already spent half a day or more in custody, being fingerprinted, strip-searched and checked for possible outstanding arrest warrants.