>From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: It seems the (good) shit is about to hit the fan >Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 00:21:20 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > >A DRCNet Exclusive by Adam J. Smith > >A DRCNet Exclusive >By Adam J. Smith > >The Week Online with DRCNet (stopthedrugwar.org) has learned that >Newsweek Magazine decided late Friday to postpone publication of an >excerpt of a Gore biography featuring eyewitness accounts of Al >Gore's regular and continued drug use over a period of years. The >drug use covers a period of Gore's life from his days at Harvard up >until the very week he declared his candidacy for Congress in 1976, >sources told The Week Online. The book, by Bill Turque of Newsweek's >Washington bureau, quotes both named and unnamed sources, >including John Warnecke, son of John Carl Warnecke - architect of >the John F. Kennedy grave site, and a long-time friend of the Gores. >An exclusive interview with Mr. Warnecke follows this story. > >The excerpt had been scheduled to run in Newsweek's January 18th >issue, just days before the start of the Democratic primaries. A >previous excerpt from the book appeared in the December 6 issue. In >that excerpt, which covered Gore's Vietnam experience, Tipper Gore >was said to have spent considerable time, distraught with worry for >her husband's safety, at Warnecke's house while Gore was overseas. > >The Gore biography, to be published by Houghton-Mifflin, was itself >originally scheduled for a January release, but that too has been >delayed until March 23. A spokesman for Houghton-Mifflin told The >Week Online that the delay was "normal." > >Al Gore has previously admitted using marijuana, but those admissions >fall well short of the type of regular, even chronic use described by >Warnecke. Warnecke also says that Gore used marijuana regularly for >at least four years after the Vice-President claims to have stopped. > >On November 7, 1987, in the wake of Douglas H. Ginsburg's failed >Supreme Court nomination, Gore told the Bergen County Record that >he had smoked marijuana in college and in the army but had not used >it in the past fifteen years. The New York Times reported on >November 8, 1987: > >Mr. Gore said he last used marijuana when he was 24. He said he first >tried the drug at the end of his junior year at Harvard and used it >again at the beginning of his senior year the next fall. He also said he >used the drug "once or twice" while off-duty in an Army tour at Bien >Hoa, Vietnam; on several occasions while he was in graduate school >at Vanderbilt University and when he was an employee of a Nashville >newspaper (The Nashville Tennessean). On November 11, 1987, Gore >was quoted in UPI, saying "We have to be honest and candid and >open in dealing with the (drug) problem." > >Mr. Turque refused to comment to The Week Online. Roy Burnett, a >spokesman for Newsweek, acknowledged that the magazine was >preparing to run a new excerpt from the book "in the coming weeks." >Asked whether there in fact had been a delay, and if so, the reasons >behind it, Burnett would say only that it is Newsweek's policy not to >discuss its editorial practices. > >Gore, as part of the Clinton Administration, has presided over a drug >war policy that has led to the arrest and incarceration of record >numbers of non-violent drug offenders. In 1998, according to the >Justice Department, there were 682,885 Americans arrested on >marijuana charges, 88% of whom were arrested for possession. A >recent study by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice >(www.cjcj.org) reported that the incarcerated population of the U.S. >will reach two million on or around February 15, 2000. Of those, more >than half are non-violent offenders according to CJCJ. > >On February 8, 1999, Vice President Gore personally presented the >administration's Drug Control Strategy at a Washington, DC press >conference. During his remarks, Gore spoke about the "spiritual >problem" of drug abuse and about the need for more positive >opportunities for young people. Despite this, however, the strategy >allocates approximately 2/3 of the federal drug budget on >enforcement, with less than one third to be spent on treatment and >education combined. > >At that press conference, Gore, perhaps inadvertently, pointed out >the very problem inherent in a class of political leaders who prosecute >a failing drug war while hiding their own experiences with illicit drugs, >and the message that sends to young people. > >"And if young people. feel there's phoniness and hypocrisy and >corruption and immorality," Gore said, "then they are much more >vulnerable to the drug dealers, to the peers who tempt them with >messages that are part of a larger entity of evil." > > > >INTERVIEW with >John C. Warnecke >Exclusive to The Week Online >By Adam J. Smith > >John C. Warnecke worked as a reporter for the Nashville >Tennessean and was a close personal friend of the Gores. >Warnecke is the son of John Carl Warnecke, architect for the >John F. Kennedy gravesite. The Week Online spoke with Mr. >Warnecke by phone this week. > >The Week Online: Mr. Warnecke, Vice President Gore has said >that he used marijuana 'on several occasions' and 'not since he >was twenty-four.' But you say that you have first-hand >knowledge that his use was more extensive than he has >previously admitted? > >John C. Warnecke: Yes, I do. I have first hand knowledge that he has >not told the truth about his drug use. 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. >We smoked a lot. > >Al Gore and I were smoking marijuana together right up to the time >that he ran for Congress in 1976. Right up through the week he >declared for that race, in fact. > >WOL: And after that? > >JCW: After that he began to distance himself from me. I was bad for >his political career. > >WOL: During the course of the 1988 campaign, you told the New >York Times and the Nashville Tennessean that you had smoked >marijuana with Al Gore. > >JCW: A few times. And I told them that he didn't like it. > >WOL: Why didn't you tell the truth at that time? > >JCW: I was put under a lot of pressure to lie. > >WOL: Who was pressuring you? > >JCW: The answer to that question is in the excerpt that Newsweek >decided not to run. It's in the Turque book. Right now, I'm going to >leave it at that. > >WOL: So what made you decide to come forward now? > >JCW: It's because I've been under a lot of stress. My conscience has >been killing me ever since then. I actually came forward months ago >when Bill (Turque) interviewed me for the book. I had been told that >this story would come out, that the public would know this by now. >But then the book date was pushed back, and Newsweek pulled the >story. The only thing that I can assume is that Newsweek is covering >this up, protecting the Gore campaign by refusing to run this before >the primaries. I decided that I had to go ahead and tell it. I really feel >that the public has a right to know this at this time, and I was having >trouble living with myself being part of the hypocrisy and the lies. > >WOL: Hypocrisy? > >JCW: Yes. The drug laws in this country are ruining the lives of >hundreds of thousands of young people, mostly poor young people, >people who don't come from privileged backgrounds and wealthy >families. It just doesn't make sense that we have a war on drugs. It >doesn't work, and the politicians refuse to talk about it. That suffering >and that hypocrisy has weighed very heavily on my conscience. I >have a saying that I use, and that is: "who raised you?" In other >words, were you raised with a conscience? Mine has made my life >very difficult ever since I became part of the hypocrisy. I couldn't live >with the lie anymore. Not and stay sober. > >WOL: How long have you been sober? > >JCW: Twenty-one years. > >WOL: Congratulations. So, after twenty-one years of sobriety, >do you consider Al Gore a criminal for his drug use? > >JCW: I don't consider drug use a criminal act. Is drug use a poor >choice? Yes. Is it risky behavior? Yes. Does it make any sense -- has >it gotten us anywhere as a society to criminalize it? Absolutely not. >Unless you consider it progress that we're spending more on prisons >than on higher education, and still the drugs are everywhere. But >politicians refuse to talk about this issue honestly. > >WOL: And what would you have Al Gore say about it? > >JCW: I wish Al would come clean. I wish that all politicians would >come clean and deal with this in a rational manner. Look at all the >damage the silence is causing. > >WOL: And Newsweek? > >JCW: Newsweek cut off information that the American people should >have had in order to make an informed decision. Knowing that Al Gore >used drugs considerably more than he has admitted is important. Let >the American people draw their own conclusions about it, let them >decide how important it is. > >We need to quit lying about it. Quit hiding it. To my mind, Newsweek >censored this, they covered it up. And I think that the perpetuation >of that silence over time has allowed us to go on jailing kids. Kids who >are much younger and less equipped to deal with life than Al Gore was >when we were using drugs together. > >I want any candidate that is running for president to be honest about >their drug use. And then we can start being honest with ourselves >about how best to deal with society's drug problem. > >WOL: So you don't think that his past drug use, even his >extensive drug use, should disqualify Al Gore from the >nomination? > >JCW: I'm going to vote for Al Gore. > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: