BLAGOJEVICH'S POT USE IS RAISING EYEBROWS, BUT IT ISN'T BIG NEWS

Rod Blagojevich, the Democratic nominee for governor, has many people abuzz
this week with his admission that he tried marijuana when he was young.

Blagojevich said that he had tried smoking pot twice when he was in
college, but that he wasn't sure whether he had inhaled.

The question of whether a politician ever smoked marijuana has become
almost a standard one these days for reporters who are testing a
candidate's honesty. And reporters are chuckling at Blagojevich's response.
Inept? At smoking pot?

Still, I can relate. When I was in college, I tried marijuana several
times. Did I inhale it? I'm not really sure. I don't smoke and don't really
know how. A reporter told Blagojevich this week that if he had inhaled, he
would have gotten the munchies later. Blagojevich said that he did not. I
know for a fact that I didn't. I faked the munchies.

Back in the '70s, when I was in college, it was almost unusual to go to a
party where marijuana was not present. I can remember one time when
everyone after a party had the munchies. To fit in, I pretended to have
them too.

Pretty pathetic, huh? None of this is stuff I'm proud of. My admission will
win me no points with those who oppose the use of marijuana, nor with those
who favor it. I'm hardly a champion for its legalization. Neither is
Blagojevich.

While Blagojevich's admission has stirred some discussion, I'm betting it
doesn't harm his chances. In 1972, marijuana was considered something that
was shaking the very fabric of American society. On television, Archie
Bunker ranted and raved about it. At the movies, actors glorified it. Major
demonstrations were held surrounding its legalization.

Can you imagine what would have happened had Richard Nixon admitted that he
had tried marijuana? I know, the idea of Nixon smoking marijuana is pretty
funny. But had he announced it, I suspect all of Washington would have
wondered whether we should all duck and cover.

But when Bill Clinton announced 20 years later that he had tried it but
didn't inhale, it was more funny than controversial. Since then, other
politicians have been more willing to come clean. And they're all over the
political spectrum: Al Gore, Newt Gingrich, Bill Bradley and New York Mayor
Michael Bloomberg among them. Bloomberg, in fact, didn't back away from it
at all. When asked whether he had ever smoked pot, Bloomberg told a New
York magazine writer, "You bet I did. And I liked it."

Like it or not, marijuana is slowly but surely becoming part of American
culture. With various states edging closer and closer to legalizing it, my
guess is it will be a matter of time before marijuana becomes legal.

Am I in favor of legalization? The jury's still out, as far as I'm
concerned. I consider my use of marijuana what politicians like to call "a
youthful indiscretion." I have no interest in it now and, truth be told, I
really had no interest in it then, other than following the crowd --
something I now advise youngsters not to do.

But at the same time, I do think it's ridiculous that we're still jailing
people for smoking marijuana in public while people like the mayor of New
York can proclaim loudly and proudly that he did it.

I'm not really proud of what I did, and I suspect Blagojevich isn't either.

Ultimately, though, my guess is that the folks of Illinois don't really
care that much about it. I suspect they care more about issues like
affordable medicine for seniors, increased taxes and reduced services.

In the overall scheme of things, the mini-controversy over his college-age
marijuana use will blow away like a puff in the wind.