'GOTCHA' POT QUESTION CLOUDS POLITICAL DEBATE

Nobody cares if you inhaled or not. The "have you ever?" marijuana
question used to be a third rail of political campaigns -- touch it and
die.

But not anymore.

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak acknowledged
Thursday that yes, he, too, had dabbled in the doobies.

"Listen, I lived a pretty normal life growing up as a kid," Hudak told
reporters when he was asked the "gotcha" question that 20 years ago
could have derailed a campaign.

He was speaking on how a Conservative government would protect home
buyers by creating a registry of homes that had been used as marijuana
grow ops or meth labs.

"So yes I have. It's been some time I will say."

As a kid? The 44-year-old Fort Erie native who wants to become premier
in October was first elected to Queen's Park at the tender age of 27.

Maybe he felt comfortable with the admission because it shouldn't lose
him any political ground. His rivals Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty
and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath have also publicly admitted that they
tried it.

So, no matter how Ontarians mark their ballots for the Oct. 6
election, the premier is going to be someone who has at least
experimented with pot.

Certainly, it creates a credibility issue for them. When the leader of
the province admits to having smoked marijuana, it's hard to take them
seriously when it comes to managing what's still a public health and
crime issue.

But, hey, it's politics. It's hard to take them seriously on a lot of
issues.

The "have you ever" question has become the most tedious and
irrelevant one reporters ask politicians on the campaign trail.

Not since Bill Clinton's infamous 1992 dubious explanation that he
tried marijuana while a university student, but "never inhaled," has
it been a relevant issue in politics.

The immortal Clinton line was the harbinger of other quintessential
quotes to come, such as "I did not have sexual relations with that
woman" and "it depends on what your definition of is, is."

A million years ago -- like in the 1950s-- character issues like whether
you'd smoked pot, whether you were divorced, or whether you were gay
played prominently in whether the electorate considered you to be
suitable for holding public office and represent people who,
themselves, were guilty of doing the things they didn't want their
politicians to do. Do as I say, not as I do.

But pot went mainstream in the 1960s when social attitudes toward drug
use got more liberal. Nowadays, it's almost like politicians who
haven't sparked up seem like out-of-touch nerds.

What does it say about Ontario society in the 21st century when
politicians can "aww shucks" their way out of questions about illegal
drug use and the voters are unfazed by it?

For example, on The Review's online poll, 70% of the 46 respondents
said it doesn't matter whether a politician smoked pot.

In Niagara Falls, the question came up once during the 1999 provincial
election. "Have you ever" was asked by an audience member at a
candidates forum.

Not surprisingly, the Conservative and Liberal rivals, Bart Maves and
Liberal Selina Volpatti (who are now actually colleagues as regional
councillors) said they hadn't.

But the line of the night went to Bill Amos, a realtor who was running
for the Natural Law party -- the crowd who believe sitting cross-legged
in the lotus position while meditating will eliminate crime, beat
illness and wipe out other social problems.

He said he "probably had more hash brownies."

With all the various problems on the provincial government's To Do
list, it's hard to believe the pot question still pops up at election
time.

The government's bleeding red ink, the stock market's circling the
bowl, Niagara is up in arms over the state of its hospitals. Factories
have closed and too many people are out of work.

But the Queen's Park media can't resist snatching the low-hanging
fruit instead of challenging Hudak on his policies. It's time for
reporters to just say no to asking the marijuana question.

Bill Clinton defused it in 1992. With an election coming, let's hope
the heads of politicians, the media and the public aren't so clouded
by the marijuana issue to concentrate on the issues that really matter
to people.