| 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. |
