Oz politicians admit using marijuana

    
SYDNEY: Australia's acting Prime Minister admitted on Friday she had smoked marijuana as a university student, but said it was no big deal.
    
Julia Gillard's disclosure in a radio interview followed a similar confession on television overnight by the leader of the opposition, multi-millionaire former merchant banker Malcolm Turnbull.
    
"At university, tried it, didn't like it," said Gillard, the Deputy Prime Minister, who is standing in for Kevin Rudd while he attends the UN General Assembly in New York.
    
"I think probably many Australian adults would be able to make the same statement so I don't think it matters one way or the other."
    
Using the drug remains illegal in Australia.
    
Turnbull, who took over the leadership of the conservative Liberal Party earlier this month, said he regretted smoking dope.
    
"Yes, I've smoked pot," he said, drawing laughter from the live studio audience before going on to say that he now considered it to have been a mistake.
    
"I think now, with what we know about marijuana, I think it is a very serious drug and it is a drug that we should strongly discourage everybody, be they young or old, but obviously particularly young people, from using."
    
The latest admissions take to at least four the number of self-confessed marijuana smokers on the front benches of Australia's parliament.
    
Treasurer Wayne Swan and environment minister Peter Garrett, former frontman for the rock group Midnight Oil, have admitted smoking cannabis in their university days.