WHITE HOUSE: CLINTON NEVER USED COCAINE

WASHINGTON -- Responding to renewed media interest in past drug use by
politicians, the White House said Tuesday that President Clinton has never
used cocaine.

"The President has never done cocaine," Jim Kennedy, spokesman for the
White House counsel's office, told The Washington Times. "That applies to
his entire life."

The question arose after Gennifer Flowers, who claimed to have had a
long-term liaison with Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas, alleged in
an interview with Fox News that Clinton told her that he had used the drug.

Kennedy said Tuesday that he had not spoken directly with Clinton about the
question. White House press secretary Joe Lockhart backed up Kennedy's
comments. Lockhart noted that the question first arose during the 1992
presidential campaign, when Clinton admitted that he had tried marijuana
but said he did not inhale. At that time, Clinton's top-ranked aide in the
Arkansas governor's office denied that Clinton had used cocaine.