Pubdate: Tue, 17 Sep 2002
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2002 The Sun-Times Co.
Contact:  http://www.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author: Dave McKinney

BLAGOJEVICH: I DIDN'T INHALE EITHER

SPRINGFIELD--When it comes to marijuana, gubernatorial hopeful Rod 
Blagojevich seems to follow the party line of former President Bill Clinton 
with a slight variation -- he doesn't remember inhaling.

Clinton said he tried pot, but didn't inhale, the congressman told 
reporters Monday he had a "vivid" recollection of smoking marijuana twice 
while in his late teens or early 20s yet couldn't remember if he breathed 
the smoke into his lungs either time.

Blagojevich was put on the spot one month and a day after House Speaker 
Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) indicated that Blagojevich had "indiscretions" 
in his past but wouldn't identify any of them.

"Did I try marijuana when I was young? The answer is yes," Blagojevich said 
in a careful response that took 10 seconds to craft following a reporter's 
question. "Did I use any other kind of illegal drug? The answer is no."

Pressed on whether he inhaled either of those times, he continued: "I don't 
know if I did or not. I never liked the smell of it, but it was a smell ... 
all of our generation is very familiar with, and I'm sure I'm not the only 
one in this room who can recognize that smell."

Told he would have felt a stinging sensation in his lungs had he inhaled, 
Blagojevich then said, "I probably didn't. You're using a Clinton line on 
me here. I just don't know. I did it twice. And I was so inept at it, I 
don't know whether I did or didn't."

Despite his admission, Blagojevich isn't on the cutting edge of Illinois 
politics on this particular issue. In 1998, before being elected lieutenant 
governor, Republican Corinne Wood told the Sun-Times she smoked pot--and 
inhaled.

And before that, in the 1996 U.S. Senate primary, Republican Lt. Gov. Bob 
Kustra acknowledged he tried marijuana, prompting similar admissions from 
his GOP rival, former state Rep. Al Salvi (R-Wauconda), and from former 
state Treasurer Patrick Quinn, who lost the Democratic U.S. Senate 
nomination that year and now is Blagojevich's running mate.

Blagojevich, 45, said he was "college-aged" when he experimented with 
marijuana and that he opposes any effort to legalize the drug.

While few observers believe disclosure of past marijuana use will swing 
many voters of his generation, who themselves did the same thing on college 
campuses, Blagojevich and his Republican opponent, Attorney General Jim 
Ryan, differ on the marijuana use question.

"Jim Ryan has never taken drugs. No experimentation, no use, zero," Ryan 
spokesman Dan Curry said. "He never had an inclination to break the law. I 
can't explain it any other way. He had no desire to do drugs."

Blagojevich said he is still trying to figure out exactly what Madigan was 
talking about last month with his line about "indiscretions," a barb the 
state Democratic Party chairman threw at Blagojevich after he questioned 
the speaker's "arrogance" in awarding a controversial state grant to a 
friend's equestrian project.

"I feel good about the life I've lived, a very honest life, work hard, jog, 
you know, try to eat the right kinds of foods, don't do anything in 
excess," Blagojevich said at a press conference to announce the endorsement 
of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association.
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