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Marijuana: Not a drug
thedaily
Monday 29 Oct 2007 In a joke gone to pot, the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, told GQ that marijuana is not a drug. "That is not a drug. It's a leaf," Schwarzenegger told the magazine. "My drug was pumping iron, trust me." However, his spokesman assured the press that the governor was joking. The action-movie star turned pollie told the British edition of GQ magazine that he had not taken drugs, even though the former Mr. Olympia admitted to using marijuana in the 1970s. He was also shown smoking a cannabis joint in the 1977 documentary "Pumping Iron." Making reference to former US president Bill Clinton who claimed never to have inhaled the former bodybuilder stated "I did smoke a joint and I did inhale. The bottom line is that's what it was in the Seventies, that's what I did. I have never touched it since." The governor made the comments in a lighthearted context, according to Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's press secretary. McLear also noted the fact that the interview was conducted by Piers Morgan, one of the judges on America's Got Talent Morgan and a former British newspaper editor. "The governor was doing an interview with the host of 'America's Got Talent,' the newest version of the gong show," McLear said. "I think it's important to keep that quote in the context of the environment where it was said." "Of course the governor understands marijuana is a drug." McLear stated. "It's like when he goes on Leno or the Daily Show, if you took something like that out of context, it might seem shocking but it was in a silly entertainment context," he added. In the interview for the magazine's December issue, the former Conan the Barbarian actor refused to condemn politicians who decline to answer questions about drug use, according to reports. "What would you rather have? A politician taking stuff and not saying, but making the best decisions and improving things? Or a politician who names all the drugs he or she has taken but makes lousy decisions for the country?" Schwarzenegger was quoted as saying. "A politician's job is to do what's best for the people and to improve the country, the economy, the environment. Why should I care if a politician takes sleeping pills every night so long as he can do his job?" he added. The joint joke would easily confuse hopeful hemp farmers, as Schwarzenegger just vetoed the Industrial Hemp Farming act again earlier this month, despite a redrafted version to address his concerns. The bill would authorise farmers in four counties to grow plots of nonpsychoactive hemp as a pilot project, but has no effect on federal legislation. "I would like to support the expansion of a new agricultural commodity in this State " Schwarzenegger said in an online statement. "Unfortunately, I am very concerned that this bill would give legitimate growers a false sense of security and a belief that production of 'industrial hemp' is somehow a legal activity under federal law." In a further revelation in his GQ interview, it turns out that President George W. Bush didn't make the Running Man's list of greatest leaders in history. "I would say that I was ... very fond of his father. I worked for President Bush Sr., and he was a great man." "I think his son does some great things and there are some other things I don't agree with." Schwarzenegger did however name former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former South African President Nelson Mandela, Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan and ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as contenders for the title. US: http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2007/oct/29/marijuana-not-drug/
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