MAYOR'S DRUG QUIP APPEARS IN ADS

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg's election-year comment that he had not
only tried marijuana but liked it is heading for wider distribution -
although he wishes it wasn't so.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Foundation, or
NORML, plans to invoke the mayor's one-time praise for pot in a $500,000
pro-decriminalization ad campaign.

Bloomberg was still a mayoral candidate when New York Magazine last year
asked him whether he ever inhaled from a marijuana joint.

Came his reply: "You bet I did. And I enjoyed it." The group's marketing
promotion seeks to dissuade New York City from arresting and jailing pot
smokers.