MARIJUANA TAINTS PRESIDENTIAL BIDS

If either of the two top Democratic presidential contenders defeats
President Bush in November, he will become the first American
president to openly acknowledge having smoked marijuana - and inhaled.

Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards both have admitted publicly to using
marijuana as younger men. Mr. Bush - a product of the same generation
- - refuses to say whether he has.

Massachusetts' Mr. Kerry first admitted during a 1990 Senate
re-election campaign that he'd smoked marijuana as an antiwar
protester after he returned from fighting in Vietnam.

"About 20 years ago, I tried marijuana," Mr. Kerry said through a
spokesman in 1990. "I didn't like it. I have never used or tried any
drug since."

During an interview with Rolling Stone magazine last November, Mr.
Kerry elaborated on his views about casual marijuana use.

"I've met plenty of people in my lifetime who've used marijuana and
who I would not qualify as serious addicts - who use about the same
amount as some people drink beer or wine or have a cocktail," he said.
"I don't get too excited by any of that."

Like Mr. Kerry, Mr. Edwards - the freshman senator from North Carolina
- - said during the "Rock the Vote" debate last November on CNN that
he'd smoked marijuana before. He did not elaborate.

But in general, Mr. Edwards has maintained a stronger view against
illegal marijuana use.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) has
given Mr. Edwards two thumbs down for his opposition to the
decriminalization of the drug and his "little concern" for medical
marijuana use.

NORML gives Mr. Kerry a green thumbs up for his "mild support for the
legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes." The group isn't as
pleased with Mr. Kerry over his hesitancy to decriminalize marijuana,
although they don't give him an outright thumbs down on the issue.

In his Rolling Stone interview, the former prosecutor said he didn't
"quite" support making marijuana legal.

"What we did in the prosecutor's office was have a sort of unspoken
approach to marijuana that was almost effectively decriminalization,"
Mr. Kerry said. "We just didn't bother with small-time use."

Mr. Kerry also joined his senior Massachusetts senator, Democrat
Edward M. Kennedy, in a letter last October to the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration seeking approval for the University of
Massachusetts to grow high-quality marijuana.

For 30 years, the University of Mississippi has been the sole supplier
of high-grade marijuana used in research by the government, creating
"an unjustifiable monopoly on the production of marijuana for
legitimate medical and research purposes in the United States,"
according to the letter.

Mr. Kerry and Mr. Kennedy were concerned that the lack of competition
"may well result in the production of lower-quality, research-grade
marijuana, which in turn jeopardizes important research into the
therapeutic effects of marijuana for patients undergoing chemotherapy
or suffering from AIDS, glaucoma, or other diseases."

Mr. Bush never has directly answered questions about whether he used
marijuana or other drugs.

When asked in August 1999, he replied: "I made some mistakes years
ago, but I learned from my mistakes." The next day, he elaborated -
but only a little.

"Not only could I pass the background check and the standards applied
to today's White House, but I could have passed the background check
when my dad was president, a 15-year period."