Sen. Rob Portman admitted during an interview Monday to smoking marijuana as a young man, but said he has been working on drug prevention measures since his first year in Congress 20 years ago.
The Ohio Republican was questioned about his past during a livestream interview with BuzzFeed Brews, ABC News reported Tuesday.
BuzzFeed's John Stanton started the interview by mentioning he had seen photos of a young Portman from the 1970s and 1980s, noting that he looked "a bit like a dirty hippie with the long hair."
"It raises the question," Stanton said. "Did you ever smoke weed?"
Portman answered the question good-humoredly, saying, "This is all off the record, right?" Then he added, "Yes."
But he said he doesn't agree with the decisions by Colorado and Washington state to legalize medical and recreational marijuana.
"It can devastate your life, and it has for many people," Portman said.
As for his own children, the senator said he tries to discourage them from experimenting.
"When I talk to my kids about the fact that I did experiment when I was young, and [that] I hope they don't," Portman said, "I tell them having spent a lot of time now in this field."
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