ATTORNEY GENERAL HOPEFULS ADMIT POT USE

3 out of 4 Democrats running for attorney general say they used marijuana
in college

Eliot Spitzer smoked pot, and even inhaled.

Catherine Abate experimented with marijuana as a college
student.

Evan Davis smoked some weed at a few parties.

Oliver Koppell simply won't discuss the subject.

At least three of the Democrats who want to be attorney general, the
highest law officer in the state, admit to having broken the law --
the same admission that a decade ago forced Supreme Court nominee
Douglas H. Ginsburg to withdraw from consideration for the high court.

Today, however, past pot use is apparently a political irrelevancy:
Gov. George Pataki recently revealed that he used to mix his marijuana
in baked beans, and his running mate, Judge Mary Donohue, admits she
smoked in college.

And even some candidates for a top law enforcement position freely
admit to one-time pot use.

"Maybe three, four times, something like that, in the late '60s,
mid-'60s, maybe early '70s -- I can't remember the dates -- I smoked
marijuana,'' Davis said. "I never bought it. It was always at parties.''

Abate, a Vassar College student during the 1960s and an anti-war
activist, admits to a similar youthful indiscretion -- and tells her
19-year-old son to do what she says now rather than what she did then.

Spitzer, who vows to get rid of the ultra-harsh Rockefeller drug laws,
readily admits he inhaled pot smoke while studying at Princeton:
"Absolutely. With pride, at the time.''

However, Spitzer -- like Abate and Davis -- claims he never abused any
other drug and no longer uses marijuana.

Of the Democratic candidates, only Koppell won't say whether he did or
didn't -- or for that matter, does or doesn't -- use pot.

"My father said that he thinks that question is invalid and he is not
going to answer it,'' said the attorney general's son and campaign
aide, Jonathan Koppell. "He is not going to answer it. He doesn't like
going down that road.''

The younger Koppell, however, said he'd be astounded if his
strait-laced father, who "hardly takes a beer,'' ever touched an
illegal drug.

And what about the incumbent, Republican Attorney General Dennis C.
Vacco?

The man who wants to remove some of the restrictions so doctors can
more easily prescribe morphine to the suffering, but opposes the
medicinal use of marijuana, kept and keeps to the straight and narrow,
according to his campaign spokesman.

"Never,'' said Mike Zabel when asked if Vacco ever used an illegal
drug.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady