Is Flying Fighter Jets a Gateway to Smoking Pot?

H&R reader Thoreau (Not His Real Name) notes that Texas Air National Guard documents released last week included a Joe Fridayesque press release that declared "George Bush is one member of the younger generation who doesn't get his kicks from pot or hashish or speed. Oh, he gets high, all right, but not from narcotics."

The president, of course, has all but admitted using illegal drugs by 1) refusing to discuss the matter while 2) acknowledging that he was once "young and irresponsible" and 3) urging baby boomer role models to lie about their own drug use, saying (in a 1998 Newsweek interview), "I think it's important for leaders, and parents, not to send mixed signals. I don't want some kid saying, 'Well, Governor Bush tried it.'" But maybe it wasn't until after he was suspended from flying that he found a less dangerous and cheaper way to get his kicks.