ARNIE: CANNABIS IS NOT A DRUG

MARIJUANA is not a drug, according to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The ex-film star was pictured smoking it in '70s bodybuilding
documentary Pumping Iron.

But Arnie - now California's governor - said in an interview with mag
GQ: "I didn't take any drugs."

Told that he had admitted to smoking marijuana, he replied: "That is
not a drug. It's a leaf.

"My drug was pumping iron, trust me."

He also refused to condemn politicians who took drugs and said it was
not necessarily a matter of public interest.

Austrian Arnie, 60, said he rated Tony Blair as one of history's
greatest leaders - with Nelson Mandela, John F Kennedy and Mikhail
Gorbachev.

He cannot stand for the US Presidency as he was not born in the
States. But if the law changed, "then I would go for it."

ARNIE yesterday vowed to "hunt down" arsonists behind wildfires which
have devastated southern California and killed 12 people. He said at a
press conference: "We're right behind you. Turn yourself in."