GORE GLAD HIS SON IS SAFE, BEING TREATED

Former vice president says his youngest child's arrest in O.C. after
pot and pills allegedly are found in his car is 'a private matter.'

Former Vice President Al Gore said Thursday that he was glad his son
was safe and getting treatment a day after the 24-year-old was
arrested in Orange County on suspicion of illegally possessing
marijuana and prescription drugs.

"We love him very much," Gore told NBC's "Today" show, adding, "We
are going to leave it as a private matter."

Gore, who appeared on NBC to publicize this weekend's Live Earth
concerts, also briefly discussed politics. He called President Bush's
decision to commute the perjury and obstruction-of-justice sentence
of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby "disappointing"
and reiterated that he had no plans to run for president, saying: "I
don't expect to be a candidate again ever."

"I've kind of fallen out of love with politics," Gore said. He said
the best use of his experience was to bring awareness and a sense of
urgency to the issue of climate change.

Al Gore III was driving a Toyota Prius about 100 mph on Interstate 5
when he was pulled over in Laguna Niguel and sheriff's deputies found
less than an once of marijuana plus Xanax, Valium, Vicodin and
Adderall, which is used for attention deficit disorder, said Orange
County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. Gore also had some Soma, a
muscle relaxant, Amormino said.

He did not have a prescription for the Vicodin, Valium, Xanax and
Adderall. The pills were in two prescription bottles. There was no
label on one of the bottles and the other "appeared to have the label
torn off," Amormino said.

Gore was released from jail Wednesday afternoon on $20,000 bail.

"We are glad he is safe and that he is getting treatment," his father
said Thursday.

The younger Gore is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 1 at Harbor
Justice Center in Newport Beach.

"I can't say what the charges are going to be," said Susan Schroeder,
a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office. "We
don't know all the facts right now."

Al Gore III, the youngest of Gore's four children, was previously
arrested in 2003 for marijuana possession while a student at Harvard
University. He completed substance abuse counseling as part of a
program to settle the charge and now lives in Los Angeles, where he
is an associate publisher of Good, a philanthropy magazine aimed at
young people.