STUDENTS BOO DRUG SERMON BY PRESTO

Never Touched The Stuff

OTTAWA - No need to ask Preston Manning if he's ever inhaled - he says he's
never even touched the stuff.

It was the first question fired at the Reform leader yesterday during a
Q-and-A when he visited Hillcrest High School.

A teenaged girl demanded he explain what he intended to do "for the
marijuana smokers of Ontario."

"I would like to discourage marijuana smoking," Manning said to a huge round
of boos.

Although none of the 400 students asked if he'd ever smoked pot, reporters
pressed him on the issue.

"No, I haven't. No I haven't," said Manning. "I never felt the necessity to
do it. I never thought much about it."

Manning said he approaches pot smoking from an environmental standpoint, and
that high school students are the most outspoken in society when it comes to
clean air and water.

"There's no point in trying to clean up the air and clean up the water if
we're going to ingest chemicals that we don't have to ingest," said Manning.
"I would suggest the government discourage any kind of chemical dependence."

The Liberal government is considering a police proposal to soften drug laws.
Under the proposal, police would have the option of issuing fines to someone
caught with 30 grams or less of marijuana, rather than the current maximum
six months in jail or $2,000 fine.