Report: Rice Tried Pot, Cocaine In Her 20s

Kathleen Rice, the Nassau County district attorney and a Democratic hopeful for New York State attorney general, admitted Tuesday to

(AP Photo/Ed Betz)

occasionally using marijuana and cocaine while she was in college, according to a published report.

Rice, who practices a no-tolerance for drug abuse or drunken driving, told the Daily News she ‘dabbled’ in marijuana and cocaine and tried drugs “‘a handful’ of times in her early 20s.”

“It was one of those stupid things that people do in their life and you regret and you move on,” Rice said after a meeting with the newspaper’s editorial board.

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Rice, 45, a graduate of Catholic University in Washington, also admitted in July she did not vote in an election until she was 37 years old.

Rice also said that she is opposed to legalizing drugs. “I’ve seen too much, and too close up, the damage they do to communities and families and public safety,” she said.

Current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the gubernatorial front-runner, has also admitted to smoking marijuana in his youth.

Rice is currently running against four candidates for the Democratic line for New York State attorney general.

State Sen. Eric Schneiderman, who’s 55, says that like many who grew up in the 1960s and ’70s, he experimented with both.

Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, who’s 53 and the only Republican in the group, says he tried marijuana a few times in college.

Forty-six-year-old former Insurance Superintendent Eric DiNallo says he tried marijuana once.

Attorney Sean Coffey, a 54-year-old a former Navy officer, and 64-year-old Assemblyman Richard Brodsky both say they never used the drugs.

With Associated Press.