Subj: US: Young Gore Smoked Marijuana Regularly, Says Former Friend



Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)



Date: Saturday 22 January 2000





Young Gore Smoked Marijuana Regularly, Says Former Friend

By Ben Fenton in Perry, Iowa, and Toby Harnden in Washington



BOTH Democratic presidential candidates suffered setbacks yesterday when

Bill Bradley was forced to admit further heart problems and Vice-President

Al Gore was accused of having covered up a marijuana habit.



On the campaign trail in Iowa, Mr Bradley, a former professional basketball

player, told reporters he had suffered from instances of an irregular

heartbeat four times since his condition was first revealed six weeks ago.



"It's just the nature of the particular situation that, time to time, it

[his heart] spins out," he said, denying the recurrence of the problem had

anything to do with the increased intensity of the campaign in the build-up

to the Iowa caucuses on Monday.



Mr Bradley's rival faced allegations that he had lied about the extent and

period of his previous drug use. John Warnecke, a former close friend, told

an internet magazine: "Al Gore and I smoked regularly, as buddies.

Marijuana, hash.



"I was his regular supplier. I didn't deal dope, I just gave it to him. We

smoked more than once, more than a few times, we smoked a lot. We smoked in

his car, in his house, we smoked in his parents' house, in my house... we

smoked on weekends."



Although Mr Gore had previously admitted smoking marijuana occasionally

until he was 24, Mr Warnecke claimed the vice-president took the drug

regularly up to the week he first ran for Congress in 1976 at the age of 28.



While disclosures of past marijuana use are no longer in themselves

damaging for Democratic presidential candidates, the claims have prompted

allegations of lying and hypocrisy that could harm Mr Gore's campaign. Mr

Gore is leading Mr Bradley by 60 points to 27, according to a national

opinion poll . The vice-president leads by 54 to 33 points in Iowa, the

state where the first presidential nomination contest will be held.



Bradley aides tried to play down the importance of their candidate's heart

condition. But the health of presidential candidates is always subject to

intense scrutiny because of the stresses that life in the White House

bring. Whereas most voters, left to the privacy of the ballot box, are

unlikely to linger on relatively trivial matters, the imminence of the Iowa

caucuses makes the timing of this health scare particularly bad for Mr

Bradley.



Caucus voters gather in small groups and debate the minutiae of each

candidate's campaign and personality. In such a forum, the issue of health

is much more likely to influence a voter's mind, according to political

analysts.



Mr Bradley issued a medical report after the initial incident of irregular

heartbeat which said he was in very good health. It was ironic that, of all

the candidates for the presidency, the only one who made his living as a

professional sportsman should be the first to face serious questions about

his health.