CANDIDATES QUESTIONED ABOUT DRUGS

TALLAHASSEE - Education Commissioner Tom Gallagher, running for the
U.S. Senate, dodges questions about prior drug use.

State Rep. Willie Logan hit the campaign trail for U.S. Senate
Tuesday, unveiling a list of priorities that includes liberalizing the
nation's drug laws.

Logan, who is running without political party affiliation, said his
top campaign priorities include gun control, affordable home mortgages
and universal preschool funded through federal programs now dedicated
to the poor.

Citing overflowing prisons, Logan also said he favors a national
review of penalties on drug possession and use, adding that he is
``wrestling'' with the idea of legalizing marijuana.

Logan admitted Tuesday he has used marijuana.

``I obviously am a child of the generation of the '50s and the '60s,''
he said.

The Opa-locka Democrat said he never used cocaine, however, dismissing
a 1993 news report that a former legislative assistant alleged he did.

Logan's disclosure followed a news conference just one hour earlier by
Education Commissioner Tom Gallagher, a Republican, who like Logan is
vying for the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Connie Mack.

Asked whether he had ever used marijuana, cocaine or any other illegal
drug, Gallagher, on a campaign stop in Tampa later Tuesday, said,
``I'd like to use George Bush's answer - not in the last 25 years.''

Gallagher's opponent in the Republican primary, U.S. Rep. Bill
McCollum, and state Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson, the lone
Democrat in the U.S. Senate race, said through spokesmen Tuesday they
have never used illegal drugs.

Gallagher's campaign announcement had been expected. He provided few
details on what his campaign platform will be.

Though he has been in the education commissioner's job only 9 months,
he called it ``the most rewarding job I've held.''

Gallagher waved aside critics who question whether he's become an
election opportunist, saying his motive in seeking higher office is
``a longstanding desire to fight for our society's most vulnerable
citizens - the very old and the very young.''

Asked if he would have run for education commissioner had he known
that Mack's seat would become vacant, Gallagher said he didn't know.

``I don't want to engage in what-ifs,'' he said.

Gallagher said he doesn't plan to reimburse the state for $155,673
state auditors said his testing company overbilled on a state contract
in 1995.

The state attorney general investigated the matter and drafted
litigation but failed to file the lawsuit before the statute of
limitations ran out in July.

Gallagher said he believes his company billed the state correctly,
``and those who have looked at it independently and nonpolitically,''
including the attorney general, agree.