WALL PUFFED, BUT KARWACKI, CALVERT SAID NO

Marijuana Use Becomes Question On Provincial Election Campaign
Trail

The fire of the provincial election campaign briefly subsided into
smoke Thursday, as party leaders recounted their own experiences -- or
lack of experience -- with marijuana.

The issue arose when a reporter at Saskatchewan Party Leader Brad
Wall's press conference on social policy asked his opinion of the
Saskatchewan Marijuana Party's call for the legalization of marijuana.

Wall said his party didn't agree with legalization. He was then was
asked whether he had ever smoked marijuana.

After a pregnant pause, Wall's answer was "yes," which was also his
response on whether he had inhaled.

"I'm going to have to now phone my mom and make sure I tell her how I
had answered that question before you go to air," he joked.

Wall said his use of marijuana was "infrequent" when he attended
university and "it didn't really do anything for me, luckily, because
for some it does lead to other things."

Wall ended up being the token toker among the leaders of the three
main parties competing in the Nov. 7 election.

NDP Leader Lorne Calvert said he never used marijuana, although he
jokingly acknowledged he might have incidentally inhaled during his
early 1970s' university days.

"To be fair, when I was first a student at the University of
Saskatchewan, I think a fair number of my colleagues did and indeed
wandering the hallways I suppose just secondhand . . . but not on a
personal basis," he said to laughter from NDP supporters at the
Saskatoon Nutana campaign office.

"I just never hung around with people that got into any of that kind
of stuff. So, no, it just really wasn't in the circles that I was
around," he said in a telephone interview.

Both Karwacki and Calvert said they did not think past marijuana use
by a political leader was an issue at all anymore, a point reinforced
by University of Regina political scientist Ken Rasmussen.

Politicians today can be more honest about their past experience with
marijuana and not suffer as a consequence, said Rasmussen, who noted
the issue is still a little overblown.

"But (Brad Wall) probably did the smart thing in admitting it because
there's probably some people (who were) there smoking with him."

"He looks groovy and youthful now. He'll get the young vote," quipped
Rasmussen of Wall's admission.

Bill Clinton attracted derision when he said he had smoked marijuana,
but didn't inhale. His comments didn't sink his successful 1992
campaign to become U.S. president.

The Saskatchewan Marijuana Party is running five candidates in the
provincial election on a platform calling for an end to the
"prohibition" of marijuana.

Legalization of pot would require the federal government to change the
Criminal Code, but party leader Nathan Holowaty said a provincial
government could affect the enforcement of current laws through its
funding of police and prosecutors.

Holowaty said he wasn't surprised Wall had tried marijuana but said he
seems hypocritical for opposing legalization.

Wall said he opposed legalization of marijuana because he believes pot
does serve as a gateway to harder drugs and because there is no
adequate roadside test to catch drivers impaired by marijuana use.

Calvert pointed out legalization or decriminalization of pot would be
the responsibility of the national government, but said he did not
favour either.

Karwacki said he does not back legalization but supports the
decriminalization of marijuana, saying it makes no sense for young
people to go to jail and have criminal records for small possession
offences.