BLOOMBERG REGRETS MARIJUANA REMARKS

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that he regretted making an
off-the-cuff comment about his marijuana use that led to a full-page
advertisement, and he demurred when asked if he believed the drug should be
legalized for medical use.

He commented as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
Foundation began a $500,000 advertising campaign featuring the mayor
responding to the question of whether he had ever tried marijuana by
saying: "You bet I did. And I enjoyed it." The quotation came from an
interview Mr. Bloomberg gave to New York magazine last year before he
announced he was running for mayor.

Among the ads was a full-page one in The New York Times yesterday.

The mayor said that he was "a believer that we should enforce the laws, and
I do not think that decriminalizing marijuana is a good idea."