NDP LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES FAVOUR LEGALIZING POT

OTTAWA -- They inhaled -- and exhaled.

Several front-runners in the New Democratic Party leadership race admitted
in a nationally televised debate last night to smoking pot at some point in
their lives. The question was raised in connection with the candidates'
position on decriminalizing marijuana.

Jack Layton, a well-known Toronto city councillor, joked that he never
exhaled, a reference to the effects of second-hand smoke.

"Six or seven million Canadians have tried marijuana. Are they criminals? I
don't think so," Mr. LAyton said.

"What we do need to do is take a sensible approach."

Mr. Layton said the federal government, which is planning to decriminalize
marijuana this year, should go further and legalize pot.

"Unlike Jack, who has amazing respiratory powers, I did exhale," veteran
Winnipeg MP Bill Blaikie said. "I'm a creature of my generation like a lot
of other people who turned 18 in 1969, but it's been a long time since I
inhaled or exhaled. But I think it's long overdue that we stop making
criminals out of people who choose to smoke marijuana."

Mr. Blaikie, who is in a tight race with Mr. Layton, said that the war on
drugs in the United States isn't working and that Canada should
decriminalize marijuana.

"Unlike Bill, when I was a university student I didn't just exhale, I
inhaled and exhaled a couple of times," Regina MP Lorne Nystrom said. "I
don't smoke and I didn't like smoking and since than I haven't even tried it."

He called on the government to legalize marijuana to take distribution out
of "criminal hands."

Pierre Ducasse, a Quebec party organizer, also admitted to smoking
marijuana once. "I think we should legalize it and put it under state
control and take it out of the black market," he said.

Windsor, Ont., MP Joe Comartin, who said he has never smoked pot, suggested
that marijuana be legalized and distributed by a government-regulated
agency "like a liquor control board."

Vancouver activist Bev Meslo refused to say whether she had ever smoked
pot. "I don't think I should have to answer any questions about my personal
life whether they pertain to how old my grandson is or what and if I
smoke," she said. But her position on the political pot question was clear.
"I believe marijuana should be deregulated. I believe it should grow like
grass."

The convention to replace retiring leader Alexa McDonough will be held in
Toronto Jan. 24-26.

The Liberal government's decision to decriminalize marijuana followed a
recent recommendation in a parliamentary report on the non-medical use of
drugs. A Senate report last fall also urged the government to legalize pot.

Under the plan to decriminalize, people caught with small amounts of
marijuana would not be criminally charged but would face fines.