The Aldrich Alert Gary Aldrich
A Publication of the Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty

Friend Claims Gore Hid "Pot Head" Status

by Gary Aldrich - Volume 1, Issue 4

Reinventing government. The creator of the Internet. The inspiration for Love Story. The discovery of Love Canal. Finally, there’s something to which Al Gore may lay exclusive claim: Our first PotHead Vice President!

In 1987, Mr. Gore said he last used marijuana when he was 24, and has maintained to the press and the voting public that his marijuana usage was "infrequent and rare" and ended in 1972.

Now reports are surfacing that indicate Gore’s drug use is the one area where he has not taken enough credit.

John C. Warnecke Jr., a former Tennessean reporter, who worked with Gore in 1971 and remained a good friend through 1976, now claims they smoked marijuana hundreds of times over a six-year period. In fact, he claims that Gore smoked marijuana "more than I can remember. It seemed like all the time we were together we were smoking." Warnecke also claims that Gore pressured him to "stonewall," and he lied when asked about the marijuana question.

This news comes as no surprise to anyone who read my best-selling book Unlimited Access: An FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House. As I detailed in 1996, the Clinton-Gore Administration demonstrated an easygoing attitude towards drug use that was shocking and dangerous. In the Bush White House, rare drug use by staffers was almost entirely limited to an individual’s college days. During my time in the Clinton White House, a striking number of cases emerged in which the use of marijuana, once started in high school or college, continued into one’s thirties, forties, and sometimes even later - literally decades of illegal drug use. Some admitted smoking pot on Inauguration Day!

Warnecke also admitted to taking hallucinogenics in the 1960s when he helped manage the rock group The Grateful Dead. This too should come as no surprise. All law enforcement knew that the parking lots of Grateful Dead concerts were notorious open-air drug markets. This band, a favorite of the Sixties counter-culture, openly promoted the use of illegal drugs. When Gore invited his entire White House staff to a Grateful Dead concert after the inauguration, I learned that the Veep himself was a dedicated "Dead Head." The vice-president’s staff was no different from the Clinton staff, and was just as deeply entrenched in the drug culture lifestyle. This man had been thought a real "Boy Scout!"

Where is the reason to believe Gore has quit using drugs? The last time pot was smoked in our White House, it was during the Carter Administration - then by Willie Nelson. Will the Secret Service come forward and tell us if the Vice President is still smoking dope? That’s doubtful, but there is good reason to wonder if anything is off limits to the happy-go-lucky Clinton and Al Gore Administration. Isn’t it time to put an end to endless White House scandal?