HOW I TOOK POT LUCK AND INHALED

Yes she inhaled. She had even exhaled but Opposition Leader Kerry
Chikarovski claimed her relationship with marijuana was short-lived.

On its first day back after the March 27 poll, it was not legislation that
consumed MPs – rather the drug taking habits of their colleagues.

"Okay, I have to admit that I both inhaled and exhaled," Mrs Chikarovski
said yesterday.

"Let me say that that was something that I did a number of years ago on a
couple of occasions and it's certainly not something that I would advocate
somebody do now."

After admitting she had used the drug in her days at swinging Sydney
University in the 1970s, Mrs Chikarovski has denied her youthful
experimentation sends the wrong message to the community with the
Government's landmark Drug Summit just days away.

"Perhaps what they might see it as is someone who's actually publicly
acknowledged that she tried it, recognised that it was something that she
wouldn't do again and is encouraging them not to try it as a result of my
experience," Mrs Chikarovski said.

"I had a couple of goes of marijuana when I was at uni and enough to make me
realise that this was not the sort of thing I liked to do."

The Opposition Leader said current anti-marijuana laws should be enforced
and she was against any change in the law.

"My view is we don't want to encourage people to use drugs and I would have
thought making it legal in fact encourages more use," Mrs Chikarovski said.

Upper House member Richard Jones said he believed at least six MPs smoked
marijuana and at least half the 135 MPs would have used marijuana.

He admitted to being under the influence of marijuana in Parliament House
once four or five years ago and now used the drug around every fortnight.