'THERE WAS A LOT OF POT SMOKING GOING ON'

MARIJUANA USE 'PART OF LIFE HERE'

WHISTLER, B.C. -- When Ross Rebagliati entered a popular Blackcomb bar Jan.
13 for the wake of a good friend who died in an avalanche, the air was
thick with smoke.

``There was a lot of pot smoking going on,'' said Ptor Spricenieks, a
friend of Mr. Rebagliati's. ``He was exposed to pot the way people are
exposed to cigarette smoke. It's just a part of life here.''

Mr. Spricenieks said he doesn't know if Mr. Rebagliati smoked marijuana in
the weeks leading to the Olympics. But Mr. Spricenieks does know Mr.
Rebagliati couldn't avoid being exposed to it.

``Being that all his friends smoke, he's not going to run away.'' Mr.
Spricenieks thinks pot smoking should be legal. But even among those who
abhor it, there was the belief that exposure to it is unavoidable among the
young in Whistler, a snowboarding haven.

Bob Allison, coach of the Blackcomb Snowboard Club, who sometimes coached
Rebagliati, opposes the use of marijuana and alcohol. But he wonders
whether even he would test positive for trace exposures.

``Recently I was on the Whistler gondola and some skiers got on and lit a
joint. I told them I didn't want to inhale their second-hand smoke but they
didn't put it out. It happens.''

Graham Turner, manager of Showcase Snowboards, a retail outlet that
sponsored Rebagliati and supplied him with his uniforms, agrees. ``I've
seen (Rebagliati) in a cloud of smoke before. You just have to go up the
Whistler gondola.''

Rebagliati contends he was exposed to marijuana as recently as Jan. 31 --
the night before he left for Nagano. Turner and Allison don't doubt that.

``If you go to any party with people that age there's a good chance someone
will be smoking pot,'' said Allison.

But don't expect anyone to come forward to back up Rebagliati's story.
``Everyone who was at the parties is lying low,'' said Turner. All of them
refused to be interviewed -- even anonymously he said. They're worried
about legal repercussions.

But they needn't be. An RCMP corporal said there are no plans to investigate.

``Why would we expend resources to find out what we already know -- that he
was at a party where people smoke dope . . . Chances are, no one is going
to come forward and say, ``Yes it was me that blew the second hand smoke.'

``What can we do. Unfortunately dope is commonplace in our society.''
Allison said he believes Rebagliati -- as does Whistler mayor Hugh O'Reilly
- -- that he had quit using marijuana and his positive test was a result of
exposure to second hand smoke.

But others weren't so sure.

Most snowboarders interviewed on Whistler's Blackcomb mountain Tuesday
believed he had probably used it recently, though they didn't believe it
should be an issue.