POT LONG AGO NO BLOT, WHERE IS CHARACTER NOW?

Media-created kerfuffles regarding adolescent marijuana use by
candidates strikes me as superficial and hypocritical ("Drug Use and
the Candidates," by Stanton Peele, op-ed Dec. 31). Who cares? Let's
have information that matters: Has the candidate used illegal drugs
in adulthood? Few candidates now were teenagers in the '50s. Any
adolescent from the '60s on is possibly part of the large number of
kids who experimented with drugs -- as are the sanctimonious
reporters baying for a pro-forma "apology." Journalists could instead
ask a question of far more relevance to an office-seeker's character,
and according to polls, more widespread than marijuana smoking. Did
he or she cheat in school?

Laurie Williamson

Weddington, N.C.