JESSE JACKSON URGES TELL-ALL

Politics: The reverend says Bush should answer all questions about past drug
use.

Washington-The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Friday that Texas Gov. George W.
Bush, the Republican presidential front-runner, should answer questions
about any past illegal drug use.

Jackson said the issue of past use of cocaine is a relevant question for
anyone running for public office because using cocaine is illegal. Noting
that Bush has toughened his state's anti-drug laws as governor, Jackson said
a majority of the 149,000 people in Texas prisons are serving time for
nonviolent drug offenses.

"You cannot say it's not the business of the press when it's public policy,"
Jackson said. "You cannot enforce a law you did not adhere to."

Bush has declined to answer questions about any past drug use, often
attempting to end such lines of inquiry by quipping: "When I was young and
crazy, I was young and crazy."

Jackson dismissed that tack and told reporters, "There is no place in the
law for youthful indiscretions and possession and consumption of cocaine."

In 1997 Bush signed a law requiring Texas state judges to sentence people
convicted of possessing a gram or less of cocaine to a minimum of 180 days
in jail. Under old law, first-time drug offenders caught with less than a
gram of cocaine where given automatic probation with drug counseling.

If Bush admits he has used cocaine he will be admitting he has violated both
state and federal laws. But Jackson said any such admission shouldn't stop
Bush from pursuing the Republican Party's nomination for president.

"It would be a shame to lose a talent of this capacity on that question,"
Jackson said.

He said Bush should use the opportunity to campaign for a loosening of state
and federal drug laws that have caused thousands of first-time and repeat
nonviolent drug users to be imprisoned in recent years.

Because of the controversy surrounding Nush, "there is renewed discussion"
of relaxing some state and federal laws involving drug use, Jackson said.
"The same people who have been saying, 'Throw away the key, zero tolerance
and three strikes,' are now saying, 'Let's look at this thing again.'"

Jackson said many state and federal drug laws are "too extreme" and that
people who use drugs should be given treatment rather than being thrown in
jail.

"Here's a rich favorite son who is now caught in a poor man's trap," Jackson
said.

He also said he believes Bush will eventually be forced to either admit he
has used drugs in the past or deny such use.

"This is not going to go away," he said.

Jackson also said Bush opened himself up to questions about drug use by
telling reporters that he has been faithful to his wife and that he quit
drinking.

"You cannot have it both ways," Jackson said.

Bush's policy of declining to answer drug questions has recently begun to
frazzle.

On Aug. 18 Bush told reporters he could pass an FBI background check used
for presidential appointees that investigates whether a person has used
illegal drugs in the past seven years. That would indicate that Bush was
denying any drug use since 1992.

The next day Bush, in response to more news media questions about drug use,
said he could pass a White House background check going back to 1974. That
would indicate that the 53-year-old Bush was denying any drug use since he
was 28 years old.

So far Bush has refused to answer any questions about whether he used
illegal drugs before age 28.

Other Republican presidential candidates have said Bush needs to address
that question.

However, a majority of the Republican Party's 50 state chairmen and women
polled by Hearst Newspapers this week said Bush should refuse to elaborate
further on the drug issue. Twenty-six of the 50 state leaders said Bush
should stop answering questions about drug use, four said he should answer
such questions completely, and the rest either refused comment or did not
return phone calls.

Jackson, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination
in 1984 and 1988, said he has never used illegal drugs.