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: Don Beck