MAGGIE'S POT USE DIDN'T HELP

Margaret Trudeau's youthful "wicked ways" and mood swings were caused
by an undiagnosed disorder made worse by over-using pot, she told
backers of mental health checkups yesterday.

"Smoking a little bit too much weed" as a hippie from her mid-teens
caused a major imbalance, the 57-year-old told 70 people at the
province-wide "Check Up from the Neck Up" campaign launch in a swank
mid-Toronto club.

She and Toronto-born singer and actress Amy Sky, 46, who described
long personal-and career-limiting bouts with post-partum depression
after her two children were born, were keynote speakers for the Mood
Disorders Association of Ontario.

"I took to marijuana like a duck to water," but as a regular "escape
. when life overwhelmed me," Trudeau said it twice put her in
hospital in "a serious manic state."

Trudeau publicly admitted having bipolar disorder a year ago.

Last year, Amy Sky and Olivia Newton-John produced and co-wrote Grace
and Gratitude, a CD for healing and medication.

To learn more about the campaign, visit www.checkupfromtheneckup.ca