LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE ASSAILS BUSH, GORE OVER POLICIES ON DRUGS

The get-tough drug policies of Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice
President Al Gore are hypocritical and further alienate estranged
voters, the Libertarian Party's leading presidential candidate said
Friday.

"There probably is no issue today on which there is greater divide
between the politicians and the people," said presidential hopeful
Harry Browne, 66, whose name appeared on the 1996 ballot alongside
Bill Clinton, Bob Dole and Ross Perot.

Browne's solution: "Get rid of all the drug laws."

That's part of a platform that will be presented at the Missouri
Libertarian Party's annual convention today at St. Peters Holiday Inn.
The daylong menu of speeches and party-building activities - featuring
the Libertarians' hands-off-government approach - kicks off at 9 a.m.

A presidential candidate forum will begin at 11:15 a.m. with Browne, a
retired investor from the Nashville, Tenn., area; Don Gorman, a former
New Hampshire state representative; and Barry Hess, a Phoenix
manufacturer. Delegates to the party's national convention later this
month in California will select the candidate.

In an interview Friday, Browne said the flap over Bush's refusal to
answer questions about past drug use, or Gore's admission to smoking
marijuana in his youth, skirts a bigger issue about the harsh
penalties politicians demand for illegal-drug users.

"The question of whether he did this or didn't do it is not nearly as
important as the disparity between his actions and what he wants to do
to other people," said Browne, who said he smoked marijuana four times
about 30 years ago.

Legalizing drugs, privatizing Social Security, repealing gun laws and
eliminating income taxes will be discussed today as the Libertarians
continue to inch out of their fringe party status. They're trading
protest candidates, philosophers and economists with better and more
candidates on the ballot, stronger state parties and a bigger budget
for TV campaign ads, Browne said.

"People have come to understand that government doesn't work," he
said.

Browne lost his 1996 presidential bid with about 500,000 votes, 10,000
of which came from Missouri.