POT ISN'T HARRIS' CUP OF TEA

Two out of three leaders of Ontario political parties admit they've smoked
marijuana -- but Premier Mike Harris says he always got his kicks from
alcohol.

Mr. Harris triggered a round of confessions yesterday at Queen's Park when
he invited reporters on an election-style visit to a convenience store
where he called for a "tough love" legal response to even minor offences,
such as simple possession of marijuana.

Asked if he ever tried marijuana, Mr. Harris, 54, said no.

"I grew up in an age when we tried all those things and I found booze a
little more attractive to me," he said.

Later, both Opposition Leader Dalton McGuinty and New Democratic Party
leader Howard Hampton admitted to reporters that they had tried it a couple
of times each, Mr. McGuinty in his late teens and Mr. Hampton while at
university.

And while the Premier made a point of rejecting a call for
decriminalization of marijuana possession, his two rivals endorsed the idea.

The call to decriminalize came from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of
Police.

"I think it's simply too heavy a penalty to saddle young people with a
criminal record, who then have trouble getting a job," Mr. McGuinty said.
He thinks that fines, or some form of alternative sentencing is more
appropriate as long as no trafficking is involved.

Mr. Hampton said the NDP has long supported decriminalizing marijuana.

But Mr. Harris said those are the kinds of attitudes that lead youngsters
to believe they can get away with crime. It's better to clamp down hard
right at the beginning, he said.

The marijuana issue overshadowed the Premier's effort to remind voters of
his tough stance against crime during his first term in office.

There were strong campaign overtones to yesterday's event, where, for the
second time in as many days, Mr. Harris returned to a place where he made a
promise in the 1995 election to proclaim the success of his policies.
Monday, it was workfare; yesterday, cracking down on crime.

While he admitted most statistics show crime is falling, he said people are
living in fear and no one is measuring how they have changed their
lifestyles because of it.

"There is a fear of crime and people are altering their lifestyles and we
think criminals should be altering their lifestyles," he said.

He also took a swipe at Mr. McGuinty, suggesting that his background as a
defence lawyer who worked for young offenders gives him a different
perspective on crime tha Mr. Harris's small-business background has given him.

"He makes excuses for those who broke the law, he says they're not really
to blame, he blames poverty or he blames despair or he blames society at
large -- not the offender," Mr. Harris said, adding that "I think he's out
of touch with society .... The offender is not the victim."

Mr. McGuinty told reporters he learned about the reality of crime working
in courtrooms. "When [Mr. Harris] was out on the ninth green, I listened to
a lot of victim impact statements in court. I think I have a ... more
profound understanding of criminal justice in Ontario."