Pubdate: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. BUSH JUST SAYS NO TO DRUG QUESTIONS AUSTIN, Texas - A testy Texas Gov. George W. Bush refused Wednesday to answer questions about whether he has used illegal drugs and said those who did not like his silence should vote for someone else. In news conferences in Austin and New Orleans, the drug issue that has begun to dog his frontrunning campaign for the Republican presidential nomination took centerstage even though Bush tried to dismiss it as ``trash-mouth politics.'' In Austin, the governor became visibly irritated in a brief news conference at the Texas capitol and chastised a reporter for asking about drugs. ``Somebody floats a rumor and it causes you to ask a question, and that's the game in American politics and I refuse to play it,'' he snapped. ``That is a game. You just fell for the trap. I refuse to play.'' He blamed unnamed adversaries for planting the drug rumors. ``I think they are being planted. I know they are being planted and they are ridiculous and they're absurd and the people of America are sick and tired of this kind of politics and I'm not participating.'' He turned away to answer a question on a different subject when a reporter asked if he was denying drug use by calling the rumors ``absurd.'' Later, in a news conference during a campaign trip to New Orleans, Bush again refused to respond to the drug rumors. ``If the voters don't like that answer, if the voters want me to inventory something I did 25 or 30 years ago, then they can vote for somebody else,'' he said. But, in response to a reporter's question, he acknowledged that it was ``reasonable'' for voters to consider a candidate's past. ``I think it's very reasonable and I think it's important for people to trust the person for whom they're voting,'' Bush said. The issue of Bush's possible use of illegal drugs goes back to the days when he was, by his own admission, a heavy-drinking bachelor in Houston and Midland, Texas. He has steadfastly refused to say whether he used illegal drugs by giving a pat answer: ``When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible.'' The issue became more pronounced after the New York Daily News recently asked 12 presidential hopefuls if they had ever used cocaine. Bush was the only candidate who refused to answer the question. Vice President Al Gore, running for the Democratic presidential nomination, has admitted smoking marijuana. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea