Doug Turner (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Turner recently said on the Jim Villanucci show on 770 KKOB-AM in Albuquerque that he has never used cocaine or any other “hard” drug.
Days later, he told NMPolitics.net through a spokesman that he had used marijuana “between high school and college” but had never used any other illegal drugs.
Turner said Saturday in an interview that the two statements aren’t contradictory.
“I think cocaine, if I’m not mistaken, is classified as a category 1 narcotic controlled substance, so I would put that in a hard drug category. I certainly don’t support the use of marijuana, but I don’t put it in the same category as cocaine,” Turner said.
Here is the full statement Turner gave to NMPolitics.net last week when asked if he had ever used any illegal drug:
“I tried marijuana between high school and college,” Turner said in an e-mail sent via his campaign spokesman, Stephen Dinkel. Turner said he has never used any other illegal drug.
Here’s a partial transcript of Turner’s conversation with Villanucci:
Villanucci: “Any cocaine or hard drugs in your past?”
Turner: “No. None. I have –”
Villanucci: “You drink?”
Turner: “I, sure, I enjoy a glass of wine. I’m not a big cocktail drinker. You know, I have a, I have a, I have a great family, I have a, you know, when I’m not campaigning, I get to spend more time with my kids and my wife, but otherwise, you know, I’ve got a speeding ticket if anyone was doing opposition research against me…”
Turner said Saturday that Villanucci was firing questions at him fairly quickly during the interview. He said he intended to follow his statement about not having used cocaine or hard drugs with a statement about having used marijuana, but Villanucci cut him off by asking if he drank.
You can listen to Villanucci’s entire interview with Turner. Villanucci’s question about whether Turner has ever done cocaine or hard drugs comes 31:53 into the recording.