Tokin' Politics

TOPICS

The Major Presidential Candidates...
Also Rans and Other Notable Political Figures on Their Past Marijuana Use
About Their Colleague's Use...
About Medica Marijuana
Legalization & the War on Drugs
A Different Approach
Marijuana and Children...
Political Family Busts (a.k.a.'Hypocrisy 101')
Misc. and Random Political Notes
You Can Help

Topic: The Major Presidential Candidates...

Vice President Al Gore (D)

Gore's admission: In 1987, Al Gore admitted to his use of marijuana while an under grad at Harvard, as an Army news correspondent in Vietnam, and while a reporter in Nashville. Gore stated, "During my junior and senior year of college, it was looked at in the same way moonshine was looked at in Prohibition days."

Source: Newsweek, 11/16/87

In an interview with John Warneke, former friend and colleague of Gore at The Tennessean, the frequency of Gore's past marijuana use came into question. In 1988, Al Gore called his friend John Warneke and asked him not to talk to the press about Gore's past drug use. Warneke stated, "[Gore] called me three times in one morning and he said, 'Don't talk to the press at all about this.' That's a stonewall, and it's another form of lying. But I couldn't do that. But I was torn. I felt a debt to The Tennessean, a paper that taught me everything about the truth. And I had a friendship with Al. So I came up with this half-truth. And that was, that Al had tried it a couple of times with me and he didn't like pot."

Trapper: "So when did you and Gore smoke pot?"

Warneke: "We started in 1970, I think. At my house in Nashville. He likes pot. He told me he smoked it before. I smoked it with Al before he went to Vietnam. And he told me he smoked over there in Vietnam. But now that I know how Al talks about it as opposed with what he really does, I don't know what to believe."

Trapper: "But he was a senator's son at the time. Wasn't he worried about being caught?"

Warneke: "He was paranoid. When he smoked in my house he would run around in my house and he would close all the blinds. If it was night he'd turn all the lights out. He's look out the windows and make sure that no one was watching. And then he would light up. Talk about paranoia. We played pool in the dark once. That's how a senator's son smoked pot."

Trapper: "You haven't talked to him in 10 years?"

Warneke: "No, he hasn't called since the day he asked me to stonewall in 1988. And here I've been holding this lie up. I lied to the New York Times; I was in tears when I lied to them. And when my [second] wife died, I didn't get a letter or a note from him."

Source: Jack Trapper, salon.com; 1/22/00

This interview is available online at: http://www.salon.com/politics2000/feature/2000/01/22/gore

One former reporter at The Tennessean, Ken Jost, confirmed that Gore has used marijuana while at the Tennessean, but to a lesser extent than what Warneke reported. Three other staff members would not say what they did or did not see, including Tennessean editor Frank Sutherland and Warneke's former wife, Nancy Rhoda.

Source: Laura Frank and Sheila Wissner, The Tennessean; 1/28/00

Chris Lehane, a spokesman for Gore, said Gore had, "never used [marijuana] since entering public office" in 1976. However, this is four years later then the date Gore cited in 1987.

Source: John Wildermuth, San Francisco Chronicle; 1/19/00

Warneke told DRCNet (www.drcnet.org) on January 20, 2000: "I have first hand knowledge that he has not told the truth about his drug use. Al Gore and I smoked regularly, as buddies. Marijuana, hash. I was his regular supplier. I didn't deal dope, I just gave it to him. We smoked more than few times...We smoked in his car, in his house, we smoked in his parent's house, in my house. We smoked on weekends. Al Gore and I were smoking marijuana right up to the time he ran for Congress in 1976. Right up through the week he declared for that race, in fact."

Source: Steve Bloom, High Times, 9/2000, extensive article profiling Al Gore's party years

George W. Bush (R)

Question: Did George W. use drugs?

"As I understand it, the current forms asks the question, 'Did somebody use drugs within the last seven years?' and I will be glad to answer that question, and the answer is 'No.'"

"Not only could I pass the background check and the standard applied to today's White House, but I could have passed the background check and the standards applied on the most stringent conditions when my dad was president of the United States--a 15-year period," Mr. Bush said. Spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said Bush had effectively denied drug usage in a period beginning 15 years before his father took office in 1989--or since 1974, when 53 year old Bush was 28.

In August of 1999, Bush told reporters that he had not used illegal drugs in the past 25 years. Bush declared that if voters objected to his refusal to reveal more "they can go find somebody else to vote for."

Source: John Affleck, Associated Press; 8/26/99

"If voters don't like that answer, if voters want me to inventory something I did 25 to 30 years ago, then they can vote for somebody else," he said.

While Bush would not talk about drug use between the ages of 18 and 28, he responded to a question about whether he used drugs while he was in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968 to 1973 by saying: "I never would have done anything to jeopardize myself. I got airborne and I got on the ground very successfully."

Last year, he explained his discretion as an effort to avoid leading the little ones astray. "If I were you," he told a reporter, "I wouldn't tell your kids that you smoked pot unless you want them to smoke pot. I don't want some kid saying, 'Well, Gov. Bush did it.'"

Sources: www.mapinc.org

It seems Bush will do anything to avoid the drug issue... When Bush was preparing for the New Hampshire primary in January 2000, it was reported that Bush canceled a street-walking tour of one community because, "about 20 people advocating legalization of marijuana were awaiting him there."

Source: Clay Robison & R.G. Ratcliffe, Houston Chronicle; 1/31/00

"George W. Bush certainly did drugs until 1974."

Source: Nicholas Kristoff, NY Times reporter who profiled Bush in a series of articles for the paper, 8/1/00 on NPR's Fresh Air

Topic: Also Rans and Other Notable Political Figures on Their Past Marijuana Use

Bill Bradley (D)

In Bradley's book, Time Present, Time Past, Bradley acknowledges that he used marijuana when he was playing professional basketball in the early 1970s. Former NJ Senator Bradley states, "Several times in the early 1970s I had taken a few puffs of marijuana."

Source: Associated Press

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

Justice Thomas, nominated by President Bush in 1991 to replace Justice Thurgood Marshall, admitted to smoking, "at least part of a marijuana cigarette in college and possibly one in law school as well."

Source: The Tennessean; 7/15/91

Representative James P. Moran (D-VA)

Representative Moran admitted to his experimentation with marijuana in 1992 shortly after attacking his Republican challenger for using marijuana and cocaine as a teenager. During a debate, Moran stated, "It doesn't seem to me that the people of Northern Virginia want to represented by somebody who has been using marijuana, taking cocaine...That's not the standard that we want to be represented by." Moran than admitted in an interview that, "The first time I didn't like the taste and the second time it scared me. A number of my friends used it, but it wasn't something I could get into."

Source: Peter Baker, Washington Post; 10/20/92

Susan Molinari (R-NY)

Former US Representative Susan Molinari, keynote speaker at the 1996 Republican National Convention, claimed to have "experimented" with marijuana during her college years at a State University of New York in the 1980s. In 1992, Molinari denied using marijuana and gave a lengthy explanation that she "tried to avoid doing anything that might reflect on her family poorly." When asked why she denied her use in a 1992 interview, Molinari said that she "panicked" when asked the question "every person in America dreads."

Source: Associated Press and San Francisco Chronicle, 8/9/96

Newt Gingrich (R-GA)

Former US Representative Newt Gingrich has admitted that he smoked marijuana when he was in college. Gingrich stated in 1995 article from The Economist, "That was a sign we were alive and in graduate school in that era."

In 1996 Gingrich attacked Mike McCurry for his admission of marijuana use: "They have a presidential press secretary in the White House, on camera, who says, of course he did marijuana in college, as though every student in American ought to say, 'Well, I can be like Mike McCurry.'"

Source: Hilary Stout, Wall Street Journal; 8/8/96

Senator Connie Mack (R-FL)

Senator Mack, admitted that he, "smoked pot once but not often" when he was in his thirties. Mack denied use of marijuana in 1982 when he ran for the House and then admitted to it in his 1987 race for the Senate.

Source: Hilary Stout, Wall Street Journal; 8/8/96

Lincoln Chafee (R)

Chafee, US Senate candidate from Rhode Island and son of Senator John Chafee admitted to using drugs several times while a student at Brown University.

Source: Julie Goodman, Associated Press

Governor Gary Johnson (R)

Governor Johnson is honest if not frank, in a discussion on 60 Minutes with Ed Bradley he said:

Bradley: have you used drugs?

Johnson: I used marijuana. I smoked from my senior year in high school through college--and then basically quit after college.

Bradley: So this wasn't a short term experiment.

Gov. Johnson: This was not a short term experience. I was something that I did. It was something that a lot of my friends did. I'm not offering an excuse for having smoked marijuana, but I will just suggest to you that from my experience, marijuana does not compare, from an impediment standpoint, at all to alcohol.

Bradley: What about cocaine?

Johnson: I have used cocaine a couple of times. Two times.

Bradley: You've described marijuana smoking as cool.

Johnson: Here is exactly the way I described marijuana as being cool, is--in the context of what you hear [about marijuana]. That, 'You're going to lose your mind. You're going to go crazy. You're going to die if you smoke marijuana.' And you know what? I smoked marijuana, and when I smoked it, none of these things happened. In fact, it was kind of cool.

Later in the interview....

Bradley: What about marijuana [how should it be handled legally]?

Johnson: Marijuana, I would suggest it could be similar to alcohol.

Source: Sixty Minutes, 4/23/00

Governor George Pataki (R)

New York's Governor George Pataki admitted that he tried marijuana.

Source: Associated Press, 1994

Did Gov. Pataki smoke marijuana? ADAW reports that while attending Columbia Law School he and his friends mixed marijuana and baked beans and ate it.

Source: Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, 6/29/98

Lieutenant Governor Mary Donohue (R)

New York's Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue has admitted to experimenting with marijuana when she was a college student. In 1998, her daughter, Sara Kenney was caught with marijuana.

Source: Associated Press 8/26/98

Lieutenant Governor Donohue, a former state judge, told the New York Post, " I tried it, but I didn't like it. I smoked it and probably inhaled. But I never got into it."

Source: Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, 6/29/98

Governor Dr. Howard Dean (D)

In 1996, Governor Howard Dean, MD of Vermont admitted to his use of marijuana as a youth.

Source: www.DRCNet.org

Dick Lamm (D)

Lamm, former Colorado governor and one-time presidential candidate for the Reform Party, said he had tried marijuana during kayaking trips to Colorado. During an interview with Peter Boyles of KHOW radio in Denver, Lamm stated, "[Marijuana] was the 'liquor' of choice back in those days on kayaking trips." Lamm recalled, "I remember sitting looking into the coals of the fire. [Smoking marijuana] was an interesting experience." Gregory Daurer, longtime NORML member and High Times contributor summated that the marijuana use Lamm recalls, in fact, took place while Lamm was governor of Colorado.

Source: Peter Boyles; Denver Post, 8/21/96

Bruce Babbitt (D)

Babbitt, former governor of Arizona, admitted that he had smoked pot when he was in college.

Source: Newsweek, 11/16/87

Mike McCurry (D)

McCurry, Clinton's press secretary, has stated that "of course" he smoked marijuana as a college student. "I was a kid of the 1970s. Did I smoke a joint from time to time? Of course I did," stated McCurry in 1996.

Source: Associated Press, 12/96

So How Do Politicians Really Feel?

Topic: About Their Colleagues' Use...

Bob Dole (R-KS)

While Bob Dole has not admitted to any past drug use, he has defended politicians who have admitted using drugs. For example, in 1990 as Senate Minority Leader, Dole defended Timothy Ryan. Ryan, President Bush's nominee to head the Office of Thrift Supervision, admitted to using cocaine and marijuana in law school. Dole stated, "If he is to be held up to that standard, then we are going to wipe out a generation of men and women who are about that age, who may have experimented at one time or another with some type drug."

Source: Hilary Stout, Wall Street Journal; 8/8/96

Topic: About Medical Marijuana...

George W. Bush (R)

In October of 1999, Governor Bush said that he is in favor of a state's right to decide whether to allow medical use of marijuana, however he does not support legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Source: Susan Feeney, Dallas Morning News; 10/20/99

In an interview with the National Review, George W. clarified his view of medical marijuana...

NR: We have reliable accounts from cancer patients that the only way some of them can get relief form chemotherapy is to some marijuana. Why should that be illegal?

GWB: Because I think it sends a signal. It relates to a larger

question: Should we legalize drugs or not? The answer is, No, we shouldn't. And it's part of the legalization process. I think we can design -- medicines to do the same things that medical marijuana can.

Source: National Review; 12/31/99

Al Gore (D)

In December, Vice President Gore said that he thought the government should allow doctors greater flexibility to prescribe marijuana to relieve medical suffering. Gore expressed that with sufficient controls, doctors should have marijuana as an option to alleviate pain associated with terminal illnesses. However, Gore believes that more research is needed in order to determine the effectiveness of medicinal marijuana. Gore stated: "If the research shows that there are circumstances in which there is no alternative for alleviating the pain that doctors believe can be alleviated through the use of medical marijuana, then under certain limited medical circumstances -if the research validates that choice-then it should be allowed."

Source: Ceci Connolly and Thomas B. Edsall, Washington Post; 12/15/99

Ooops...Flip/Flop time!

On May 11, 2000 Vice-President Gore backed away from his support for medical access to marijuana, talking to low income students in Los Angeles, "Right now, the science does not show me, or the experts whose judgment I trust, that it is the proper medication for pain and that there are better alternatives available in every situation."

Source: Ceci Connelly, Washington Post, 5/12/00

However, Gore went on to say in a separate AP article that, "But if the science ever shows that it [marijuana] is [effective], then that should determine the outcome."

Source: Associated Press, 5/11/00

Bill Bradley (D-NJ)

In December, Bradley stated: "I don't support medical marijuana now. I think it's something we have to study more before we decide to do it."

Source: Associated Press; 11/29/99

Topic: Legalization & the War on Drugs...

Al Gore (D)

Gore opposes legalization of marijuana and has stated, "It would be a terrible mistake to legalize marijuana. The marijuana commonly available today, I'm told, is many times stronger typically than the kind of marijuana commonly available several decades ago, which my generation thinks about when debating this issue."

Source: Ceci Connolly and Thomas B. Edsall, Washington Post; 12/15/99

George W. Bush (R)

"Incarceration is rehabilitation."

Bush has expressed that "those who experiment with drugs should learn from their mistakes and be forgiven, an attitude that seems at odds with some of his punitive policies back home." Contrarily, Bush's campaign spokeswoman Mindy Tucker stated, "The governor wants to make sure that when you commit a crime, there is going to be punishment, and it will be swift and sure."

Source: Mary Leonard, Boston Globe; 8/26/99

"Based on a combination of Texas Department of Criminal Justice figures and US Justice Department figures, there are at least 5,000 people in Texas prisons for marijuana possession alone."

Source: Molly Ivins, Fort Worth Star-Telegram; 8/30/00

"Bush is not tough on crime, his is dictatorial on crime." --Bill Habern, criminal defense lawyer in Texas.

Factoid: During Bush's administration, the Texas prison population has tripled.

BUSH'S RECORD AS TEXAS GOVERNOR:

1999--Under a Bush-appointed parole board "the [parole] rate has fallen to an all-time low of 16 percent. The parole rate for drug offenders in prison is about 20 percent."

In 1991, prior to Bush's control, the parole board granted 79 percent of eligible inmates parole.

Source: www.mapinc.org

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

"McCain called for a redoubled commitment to Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign, a reassessment of the drug budget to focus attention on rural areas, where he said the problems of crime an addiction had been neglected, and he stressed the importance of treatment programs for nonviolent, first-time drug offenders." McCain also proposed that part of the war on drugs by fought by veterans, "a great and untapped national resource.

Source: Yvonne Abraham, Boston Globe; 2/9/00

"I can't support the legalization of marijuana. Clearly, scientific evidence indicates that the moment that it enters your body, one it does damage and second it can become addictive...it is a gateway drug."

"My friends, we're losing the war on drugs. We ought to say, it's not a war anymore or we really ought to go after it. And there was a time in our history when we weren't losing the war on drugs. It was when Nancy Reagan had a very simple program called 'Just Say No' and you America were reducing the usage of drugs in America."

Source: CNN Transcript, Special Event: Town Meeting; 10/28/99

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX)

Washington, D.C. should not be "a haven for marijuana use, even for medicinal purposes. I don't think we should take an illegal drug and allow it to be legalized in our capital city."

Source: Susan Feeny, The Dallas Morning Star; 10/20/99

Governor William Janklow (R)

South Dakota Governor William Janklow developed a plan to make everyone convicted of drug crimes spend some time behind bars. Janklow opposed expanding this plan to include alcohol. One reason given by the governor was, "Alcohol does not make young girls as vulnerable to sexual assault as drugs do."

Source: Chet Brokaw, Rapid City Journal; 3/1/99

Governor Janklow put added pressure on South Dakota's legislature to kill the South Dakota Industrial Hemp Bill of 2000. According to Bob Newland of the Mount Rushmore State NORML, "Representatives had been talked to by the governor, and they looked at this bill as something they could sacrifice...It wasn't worth sacrificing the governor's support on some other, more immediately gratifying, legislation." Newland points out that Janklow's actions demonstrates the governor's lack of concern for the plight of farmers. Newland states, "Janklow used the subtleties of legislative maneuvers to tell farmers to go back to scratching in the ground and let him continue to ignore them."

Source: Bob Newland, Mount Rushmore State Chapter: NORML; 2/12/00

Topic: A Different Approach...

Governor Gary Johnson (R)

Governor Gary Johnson, New Mexico's Republican governor, is one of few politicians that has called for an end to the War on Drugs. Johnson has argued that pot smokers pose less danger to society than heavy drinkers.

Source: Michael Coleman, Albuquerque Journal; 11/17/99

The following statements were made by Governor Johnson during a luncheon speech he gave to a group of Rotarians.

"My support of drug legalization comes, in part, from the fact that I smoked marijuana in college and the fact that I never viewed it as being criminal."

"How many people died from the health consequences of doing alcohol? One hundred fifty thousand. How many died from tobacco? Four hundred fifty thousand. From legal prescription drugs? One hundred thousand. How many died last year from cocaine and heroin? About three thousand. And no reported deaths from marijuana."

Source: Charles Duhigg, The New Republic; 4/3/00

"General McCaffrey head the Office of National Drug Control Policy. So general, control it. Tax it. Regulate it. Get a handle on a product that right now is black market."

Johnson has questioned why, if drug use is falling, so many people are being arrested for drug-related crimes and why the nation is spending record amounts on the battle..."IN the late '70s we spent $1 billion in federal money fighting drug-related crime. Today we're spending $17.8 billion in federal money fighting that crime. Additionally, the number of people arrested for drug-related crime has jumped from 200,000 in the late '70s to 1.6 million."

Source: Nancy Plevin and Barbara Ferry, The New Mexican; 10/8/00

Governor Jesse Ventura (Ind.)

In an interview, the MN Governor described the Clinton administration's draconian opposition to medial marijuana and the administration's threats to prosecute doctors who prescribe as "utterly ridiculous." Ventura said, "This should be up to the states, and if a state has decided to allow medical marijuana, the federal government should be ashamed to forbid it. Who the hell are they to tell people with AIDS or cancer what to take-they should take anything they damn well want to!"

Source: Doug Ireland, POZ; March 2000

When Ventura was asked about marijuana on Minnesota's NPR, Ventura stated, "I view that as no different than alcohol, or tobacco, for that matter." Ventura went on to say, "You've got two very deadly drugs that buy their legality, simply by paying taxes. They pay the government--tobacco pays the government, and alcohol pays the government, and therefore they are legal--where all the other ones are not allowed that flexibility, to pay for legality."

Source: Jim Ragsdale, St. Paul Pioneer Press; 12/29/99

At the National Governors Association in 1999, Governor Ventura discussed the war on drugs. Ventura stated, "Government today, everytime someone does something stupid, they come back and want to legislate and make a law--stop people from doing stupid things. It can't be done, ladies and gentlemen...So I think, in my viewpoint, we need to take a new approach to the war on drugs. We need to look at educating people, again, that stupidity is no the right avenue to go down, get our young people to make good choices, and the only way you're going to defeat this war is by defeating the demand for it."

Source: Drug Policy Foundation; 3/18/99

Governor Mike Huckabee (R)

In 1999, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee called for a new approach to the state's drug problem. Huckabee said, "The drug war is one in which we have invested the taxpayers' resources, but we are not getting any results. We owe it to the people paying the bills to rethink our approach. Our goal should be to lower the crime rate and the use of drugs."

Source: Steve Brawner; 8/24/99

Topic: Marijuana and Children...

First Lady Tipper Gore

In a US Weekly interview, Mrs. Gore was asked how people of her generation should deal with talking to their kids about marijuana. In the interview, Tipper stated:

"One thing I say is that what's available today is so much stronger than what was available when I tried it. I think it's important that kids know that and not equate what they smoke now with what they imagine or fantasize about the college pot-smoking of the '60s. It's much, much stronger now."

"So you tell them what you learned and you hope they won't [do drugs], and you give them all the best information you can, but you also understand that, to a certain extent, kids are going to be kids. It's better to give a rule to break than no rule at all, but you are not going to prevent everything by any means. People have to grow up and go through things."

Source: Nina Burleigh, US Weekly, 3/27/00

Topic: Political Family Busts (a.k.a. 'Hipocrisy 101')

Randall Todd Cunningham

The son of Duke "Death Penalty for Drug Kingpins" Cunningham (R-CA) was convicted for possession of 400 pounds of marijuana. In court, the congressman cried and pleaded for mercy, explaining that his son "has a good heart. He works hard. He's expressed to me he wants to go back to school." While out on bail, the hard working son tested positive for cocaine three times; when an officer tried to apprehend him following the third positive test, Randy hurled himself out a window and broke his leg. Still, the congressman--who has denounced Clinton's "soft-on-crime liberal judges" and railed against "reduced mandatory-minimum sentences for drug trafficking"--won for his son the mercy denied so many others. Randy got 30 months--half the federal "mandatory" minimum sentence.

Source: Mother Jones, May/June 2000

Morgan Grams (21), son of Senator Rod Grams (R-MN). "was stopped in July in a borrowed rental vehicle after his father called the Anoka County sheriff for help finding his son. A deputy found 10 bags of marijuana and the beer cans in the Isuzu Rodeo,"

Source: Associated Press 1/12/00.

Grams had been previously jailed twice on drug-related offenses. Chief Deputy Peter Beberg "found Grams driving a sport utility truck with 10 bags of marijuana inside-an unspecified amount. A 17-year-old passenger was charged with possession of nine of the bags and later spent time at a juvenile detention center. The 10th bag was found under Gram's seat, according to a report by deputy Todd Diegnau,"

Source: Associated Press 11/14/99.

Sara Kenney (19), daughter of New York Lt. Governor Mary Donohue (R), was stopped for speeding when troopers spotted marijuana in the vehicle. Kenny wad charged for speeding and possession of less than 25 grams.

Source: Associated Press 8/26/98

Richard Riley, Jr., son of Education Secretary Richard Riley (D), was sentenced to six months' house arrest in June of 1993 for conspiring to sell up to 25 grams of cocaine and 100 grams of marijuana in South Carolina. The initial charges carried a penalty of ten years to life in prison. Riley's light sentence allowed him to continue his work at an environmental consulting firm.

Source: James Bovard, "Prison Sentences of the Politically Connected," Playboy; July 1999.

Gayle Rosten, daughter of former House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL), was charged with possession of 29 grams of cocaine with intent to deliver in June of 1990. Rosten, facing up to 15 years in prison, plead guilty to a lesser charge and received three years probation and 20 hours of public service, paid a fine of $2800, and forfeited the car in which the cocaine was found. Three years later, Rosten was found with a gram of cocaine in her possession. In violation of her probation, Rosten could have faced up to three years in prison. However, the charge was dismissed by one judge, then reinstated after Rosten was indicted by a county grand jury. On April 12, 1994 Cook County Circuit Judge Michael Toomin ruled that the search of Rosten had been illegal. Ironically, Judge Toomin ruled that the packets of cocaine were admissible evidence against the two passengers that supposedly "dropped" the packets in Rosten's car.