PM ready to try one on
By: Canadian Press, Toronto Sun, 10/04/03

WINNIPEG -- Prime Minister Jean Chretien says he doesn't know what it's like to smoke pot -- but he may be willing to find out once it's no longer acriminal offence. Chretien, 69, joked about trying marijuana in an interview
published yesterday.

On the eve of his last visit to Manitoba as prime minister, he was asked howit felt to have bills to decriminalize marijuana and legalize same-sexmarriages as exclamation points to his political career.

"The decriminalization of marijuana is making normal what is the practice," replied Chretien. "It is still illegal, but do you think Canadians want their kids, 18 years-old or 17, who smoke marijuana once and get caught by the police, to have a criminal record for the rest of their life?

"I don't know what is marijuana. Perhaps I will try it when it will no longer be criminal. I will have my money for my fine and a joint in the other hand."

On same-sex marriage, Chretien said he thinks it is better to err on the side of giving more rights than taking away. But he didn't want to talk about whether that has caused him problems as a Catholic.

"For us, my mentality, my religion belongs to me and I will deal personally with that. I am a public person in a very diverse society, and I don't think I can impose every limit of my morality on others, because I don't want
others to impose their morality on me," he said