GOVERNOR SAYS NO ILLEGAL DRUGS USED SINCE 1974

Bush Won't Specify 'Mistakes' Made Before He Turned Age 28

Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, relenting somewhat to
demands that he reveal whether he has ever used illegal drugs, said Thursday
he has not used drugs since 1974.

But he balked at any questions about drug use before then, saying, "I made
mistakes years ago. I've learned from those mistakes."

The Texas governor's remarks on the drug issue came on the second day of his
efforts to end a controversy that has dogged him on and off since he first
ran for governor in 1993.

But Bush's attempts only opened him up to more questions as, over the course
of two days, he set up -- and then nudged back -- a statute of limitation on
disclosing whether he used drugs that does not conform to that required of
many White House employees.

Wednesday, the Dallas Morning News questioned him about a requirement that
federal employees answer questions about drug use to receive high-security
clearance. The standard for the Clinton White House is seven years without
drugs.

Bush said he had not used drugs in the last seven years, but wouldn't go
back further than that.

By Thursday morning, however, he held a news conference in Roanoke, Va., at
a campaign stop and volunteered that he could not only pass the Clinton
administration's background check, but the check used by his father's White
House.

Bush said that under his father's administration those working for the White
House had to disclose whether they had used drugs in the last 15 years.

"Not only could I pass the background check and the standards applied to
today's White House, but I could have passed the background check and the
standards applied on the most stringent conditions when my dad was president
of the United States," he said.

That means, Bush aides said, if the younger Bush had gone to work for his
father when he took office in 1989, he could not have used drugs since 1974.

Then, the GOP front-runner added: "I have told the people of this country
that over two decades ago I made some mistakes, when I was younger. I have
learned from those mistakes."

He refused to elaborate on the drug question. But throughout Bush's
candidacy, he has discussed other aspects of his personal life, including
his drinking, his marriage and his religious faith.

However, the federal disclosure requirements developed by President Bush's
White House also required that applicants say if they had used drugs since
they were 18 years old. The new question was designed after it was revealed
that Supreme Court nominee Douglas Ginsburg had at one time smoked marijuana.

But Bush, 53, drew a line at an afternoon news conference in Columbus, Ohio,
and adamantly refused to discuss whether he used drugs before 1974, when he
was 28.

"I told the American people all I am going to tell them," Bush said. Even as
he gave a partial answer to the drug question, Bush insisted that to discuss
it further would be harmful to the political process.

"I believe it is important to put a stake in the ground and say enough is
enough when it comes to digging up people's backgrounds in politics," he said.

Bush said he hoped voters would accept his answer. If not, he said, "they
can go find someone else to vote for."

The White House's "Questionnaire for National Security Positions" asks
whether the applicant has "illegally used any controlled substance, for
example, marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine, hashish, narcotics (opium,
morphine, codeine, heroin, etc.), amphetamines, depressants (barbiturates,
methaqualone, tranquilizers, etc.), hallucinogenics (LSD, PCP, etc.), or
prescription drugs."

White House spokesman Barry Toiv said that form is filled out by job
applicants who need security clearances. Toiv said most applicants in this
administration must answer the question concerning use of those substances
in the last seven years.

But Toiv said about 1,500 employees of the White House follow further
instructions that tell them the drug question must be answered back to their
18th birthday.

Bush spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said Bush's statement Thursday focused on
whether he could meet the standard for employment at the White House, not to
how he would answer the standard drug question for national security clearance.

"Right now he's answering the standard. He's making clear that he would
adhere to the standard. As of today, he could adhere to the standard,"
Tucker said.

Tucker said the drug question on the national security questionnaire is not
meant for public consumption.

"It's for security purposes. It's not used by you," Tucker said.

While Bush would not talk about drug use between the ages of 18 and 28, he
responded to a question about whether he used drugs while he was in the
Texas Air National Guard from 1968 to 1973 by saying:

"I never would have done anything to jeopardize myself. I got airborne and I
got on the ground very successfully."

The commander of Bush's Guard unit at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston,
retired Gen. Walter B. Staudt, said illegal drug use was, of course, banned
for members of the unit, but as for drug testing, "Nobody had invented it. I
never heard of anybody doing it."

The drug issue clearly overshadowed Bush's visit to a faith-based
organization that helps welfare recipients on the east side of Columbus find
work. Bush, accompanied by Ohio Gov. Robert Taft, met with members of The
Enrichment Association of Community Healing Center in a housing project
whose neighborhood was once dubbed, "Uzi Alley" because of frequent gunplay.

Bush was told that the Christian-based organization that received taxpayer
funding helped people move from welfare to work by assisting them in resume
writing, child care, and rent payments.

But the news conference that followed the visit to TEACH was dominated by
the drug questions. Local residents had mixed responses as to whether
presidential candidates should be pressed on past drug use.

"I think for somebody leading the country, you really need to know," said
one resident, who identified himself only as Greg.

But another local resident, Bill Case, dismissed the drug question as
irrelevant.

"I don't care about what he did in the past. I care about what he is going
to do in the future," Case said.

After his trip to the housing project, Bush moved on to more affluent
quarters for a fund-raiser hosted by Leslie Wexner, the founder of The
Limited clothing-store chain. The event was expected to generate another
$200,000 for Bush's already brimming campaign coffers.

Today Bush will be in Akron, Ohio, where he will visit a faith-based
homeless shelter and attend a fund-raiser.

Chronicle reporter Alan Bernstein contributed to this story.