Canadian politicians answer the question, "Have you ever tried pot?"

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Stephen Harper - Conservative Party leader

"In terms of whether I've ever tried or been tempted [to smoke marijuana]? In terms of tried, I think you know that I've said before that I'm asthmatic. I cannot smoke and have never smoked anything," Mr. Harper said. "In terms of temptation I will leave any comment on that to my dialogue with my maker."

Source: mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1932/a02.html

Asked if he had ever imbibed, Harper quipped: "No I have not. I was offered a joint once and I was too drunk. But the serious answer is that I am asthmatic and I've never smoked anything," he said.

Source: mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n833/a06.html?1571
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=3mnXwqdf7f4&NR=1

Tim Hudak - Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak admitted to smoking marijuana, joining a long list of high-profile politicos including U.S. President Barack Obama.
“Yes, I have,” Hudak said Thursday as he re-announced his campaign promise to have a registry of homes once used as grow-ops or crystal meth labs to protect buyers. “I lived a pretty normal life,” he added, noting he “experimented” with pot while in university.

Source: thestar.com

Jim Flaherty - Minister of Finance

"Yeah, in my teenage years," said Flaherty, 52. "A couple of times."
But, Flaherty added quickly, it was a walk on the wild side that didn't last very long.
"I have to admit: I didn't like it," he said.

Source: mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n506/a09.html

Stockwell Day - Conservative Minister of Public Safety

Canadian political candidate Stockwell Day admits trying marijuana: "Yes, I have done marijuana. And I did inhale."

Source: archives.cbc.ca

Tony Clement - Conservative Minister of Health

Tony Clement, the health minister, who has made much of the fact that he's the youngest of the candidates at age 41 and stands for the "next generation of ideas."
"Not even a cigarette," said Clement, known even by supporters to be more of an egghead than a pothead despite his propensity for renegade rock music. "It's true," he added. "I'm not controversial."

Source: mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n506/a09.html

Ralph Klein - Former Conservative Premier of Alberta

Admits to trying the drug in his youth.

Source: justice.gc.ca/eng/dept-min/pub/jc/vol3/no3/page3.html

Pierre Claude Nolin - Conservative Senator

Mr. Nolin, a senator since 1993, when former prime minister Brian Mulroney named him to the upper chamber, was asked if he uses marijuana for "recreational" purposes.
"If you use the past tense, I would say yes," Mr. Nolin replied. "Not any more."

Source: mapinc.org/newstcl/v99/n635/a03.html

John Tory - Former Ontario Conservative Leader

Ontario Conservative Leader John Tory used marijuana as a high school and university student, once favoured lighter sentences for pot traffickers and even drove while "stoned."
The youthful Tory wrote he used marijuana "to some extent" in high school and in his first year of university but hadn't touched the stuff in several years.
"That was then and this is now," he said. "I'm 30 years older, hopefully a lot wiser. I think these are experiences that kids often have that help them to learn lessons and shape their attitudes when they get older."
"At the time, I really saw nothing wrong with it, although on certain occasions in certain circumstances I was somewhat paranoid of the badge swooping down and carting me away," he wrote.

Source: mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n1622/a04.html

Ernie Eves - Former Progressive Conservative Party leader

"Only at Argo (football) games ... when you had to," said Ernie Eves, 55, breaking into uproarious laughter when questioned about his marijuana use. "There were some pretty tough years in the Argonauts history ... oh, jeepers ... That was back when I was in university."
It only happened on "one or two occasions," said Eves, who many predict will win the race to replace Harris on Saturday.
"It didn't do anything for me. Watching the football was bad enough."

Source: mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n506/a09.html

Mike Harris - Former Progressive Conservative leader

Mr. Harris says he "found booze a little more attractive" than marijuana as a youth and does not condone drug use today. Asked whether he had ever inhaled, Mr. Harris replied: "No, I haven't. But I grew up in an age where we tried all these things.''

Source: cfdp.ca/cita99.htm

Kim Campbell - Former Conservative Prime Minister

Kim Campbell, who is considered likely to become the first woman to serve as Canada's Prime Minister, said she smoked marijuana when she was a university student, a newspaper has reported.
"And I inhaled the smoke," she told Ottawa's French-language daily Le Droit.

Source: nytimes.com

Michael Ignatieff - Leader of the Liberal Party

When asked by a reporter, after his town-hall with the students, whether he had ever had a joint, Ignatieff said: "I have smoked pot as a young man, yes . . . and it's one of the reasons why I urge young people not to repeat the experience. It did not ruin my life. I just think there are a lot more important and interesting things to do with your life, including a glass of wine after dinner."
"Hey, I mean, let's all relax here."

Source: vancouversun.com April 27, 2011

Martin Cauchon - Former Liberal Minister of Justice

“But of course,” Cauchon told reporters on a slow news day last July. "I'm 39 years old…and yes, of course I tried it before, I mean obviously."

Source: justice.gc.ca/eng/dept-min/pub/jc/vol3/no3/page3.html

Paul Martin - Former Liberal Prime Minister

"The answer is: I never smoked. I never smoked anything, but there was an earlier time, years ago, when Sheila made some brownies and they did have a strange taste," he said.
It turns out Martin and his wife Sheila tried hash brownies in Montreal during the 60s.

Source: ctv.ca

Dalton McGuinty - Liberal Premier of Ontario

Mr. McGuinty, who is 43, said he tried marijuana "in my late teens ... twice." He said he doesn't condone drug use of any kind when it comes to his own teenage children.

Source: cfdp.ca/cita99.htm

Alan Rock - Former Ambassador to the United Nations

Asked if he had smoked marijuana, the prime ministerial aspirant smiled broadly, and he refused to answer the question when pressed later.
"It has nothing to do with legalizing marijuana," Rock said, adding that he wanted to develop scientific evidence to determine whether anecdotal evidence of marijuana's benefits could be backed up.

Source: cfdp.ca/mar399hc.htm
Source 2: mapinc.org/newstcl/v00/n1103/a05.html

Brian Tobin - Former Liberal Premier of Newfoundland

"Like the vast majority of people of my generation, the answer [to the question of past use] is yes," said the 46-year-old Premier. "[But] I don't think we should pretend at all that it is a normal consumer product. It is one thing to talk about decriminalization, that I would support. It is quite another to talk about legalization, that I would definitely not support ... I don't think that a young teenager who has experimented with marijuana and has been caught doing that should carry a criminal record."

Source: mapinc.org/newstcl/v00/n651/a07.html

Jean Charest - Liberal Premier of Quebec Party

Admits to trying the drug in his youth.

Source: archives.cbc.ca

Jean Chrétien - Former Liberal Prime Minister

Chrétien has always said he's never smoked pot, but on Friday he said he might consider it. "I never tried it. I said I might be able someday to do it," he said.
Chrétien was more specific in an interview with a Winnipeg newspaper. "Perhaps I will try it when it will no longer be criminal," he said. "I will have my money for my fine and a joint in the other hand."

Source: cbc.ca/canada/story/2003/10/03/chretienpot031001.html

Pierre Trudeau - Former Liberal Prime Minister

Source: archives.cbc.ca

Jack Layton - NDP Leader

Never exhaled, joked NDP leader Jack Layton.
Source: justice.gc.ca/eng/dept-min/pub/jc/vol3/no3/page3.html

Yes, and some might say I've never exhaled.
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=wnE-Uv9_TU8

Bill Blaikie - NDP MP
Deputy Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons

"I'm a creature of my generation like a lot of other people who turned 18 in 1969, but it's been a long time since I inhaled or exhaled. But I think it's long overdue that we stop making criminals out of people who choose to smoke marijuana," said MP Bill Blaikie.

Source: mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n035/a03.html

Lorne Nystrom - NDP MP

"When I was a university student I didn't just exhale, I inhaled and exhaled a couple of times," Regina MP Lorne Nystrom said. "I don't smoke and I didn't like smoking and since than I haven't even tried it."
He called on the government to legalize marijuana to take distribution out of "criminal hands."

Source: mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n035/a03.html

Joe Comartin - NDP Justice Critic

Windsor, Ont., MP Joe Comartin, who said he has never smoked pot, suggested that marijuana be legalized and distributed by a government-regulated agency "like a liquor control board."

Source: mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n035/a03.html

Alexa McDonough - Former NDP Leader

"I think it is madness for young people to end up with criminal records for the simple possession of marijuana," said NDP leader Alexa McDonough to a cheering crowd on MuchMusic. "I tried it once, but I've never smoked a cigarette and I didn't know how to do it."

Source: cannabisculture.com

Howard Hampton - Former NDP Leader

Mr. Hampton, who says he tried it in university, want possession of marijuana handled outside the Criminal Code.

Source: cfdp.ca/cita99.htm

Elizabeth May - Green Party Leader

The leader of Canada's Green Party, unveiling an election platform that includes a proposal to legalize marijuana, apologized on Wednesday for not having smoked pot.
"I am not a fan of marijuana use. I have to confess this -- I know all politicians are asked. I've never used marijuana. I apologize," said Elizabeth May.

Source: ca.reuters.com/

Frank de Jong - Ontario Green Party leader

He also admitted having smoked marijuana, although he “never exhaled.”

Source: cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/OntarioVotes2007/

Gilles Duceppe - Bloc Québécois Leader

"Like everyone else from my generation I'd be lying if I said I hadn't done it," Duceppe said in Quebec City. "Yes, yes, I inhaled," laughed Duceppe.

Source: cannabisculture.com/

Pauline Marois - Parti Québécois Leader

Just last week, Ms. Marois admitted she once smoked marijuana as a teenager but didn't like it. Her poll numbers went up slightly.

Source: nytimes.com/

Brad Wall - Premier of Saskatchewan

Asked whether he'd ever smoked the stuff himself, Wall paused, then confessed.
"I'm going to have to now phone my mom and make sure I tell her how I had answered that question before you go to air," he joked.
Wall said his use of marijuana was "infrequent" when he attended university and "it didn't really do anything for me, luckily, because for some, it does lead to other things."

Source: canada.com

A sincere thank you to the politicians who provided an answer to "the pot question!"

The longer we delay ending of prohibition the longer we fund the growth of organized crime in our country, fueling the increase of corruption and violence that comes along with it.

Canadians deserve to be told the truth about prohibition...

"The continued prohibition of cannabis jeopardizes the health and well-being of Canadians much more than does the substance itself."

Source: Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, 2002 - www.SenateReport.ca

The majority of Canadians support cannabis law reform, and have for many years.
Will YOU be one of the politicians of integrity who educate the public
about the consequences of cannabis prohibition and why ending it is in the best interests of ALL Canadians?

The Leger Marketing survey conducted Sept. 13-16, 2005, found that:
Only 26% of Canadians would refuse to vote for
a politician who had smoked marijuana.

POLL: Three-quarters of Canadians would still vote for a politician who had smoked pot
Monday, October 24, 2005 - mapinc.org/newstcl/v05/n1692/a03.html