BLAGOJEVICH ADMITS SMOKING MARIJUANA, DOUBTS HE INHALED

SPRINGFIELD -- Rod Blagojevich, the Democratic candidate for Illinois
governor, said Monday that he smoked marijuana twice while he was of
college age, but may have been too inept to inhale the smoke. ."Did I try
marijuana when I was young?

The answer is 'yes.' Did I use any other kind of illegal drug? The answer
is 'no,' " Blagojevich said during a news conference at the Statehouse.

Asked whether he inhaled the smoke, as former President Bill Clinton
famously denied, Blagojevich said he was unsure because "I was inept at
it." ."I did it twice and I'm a nonsmoker.

I don't like it. I run. So I don't know if I did or not. I never liked the
smell of it. But it was a smell that we of our generation are very familiar
with, and I'm sure I'm not the only one in this room that can recognize
it," he said. .Blagojevich, 45, said he opposes legalization of marijuana
because it is a "gateway drug" for young people, "and I don't think we, as
a society, should really be about that." .Dan Curry, a spokesman for
Attorney General Jim Ryan, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, did not
immediately return a telephone call from the Quad-City Times seeking comment.