Here's kind of a humorous article from the trip:
May 24, 2002
From Reuters:
Bono, O'Neill Tour Catches Scent of Marijuana
May 24, 2002
PRETORIA, South Africa (Reuters) - It was a moment that could only happen when a
rock star and a former captain of industry team up to check out operations in an
industrial plant.
As Irish rocker Bono and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill toured a huge Ford Motor
Co. plant near Pretoria on Friday, the pungent odor of marijuana smoke attracted the
attention of some of their entourage.
A Ford representative confirmed some of the 3,500 employees at the cavernous plant
did smoke the herb.
The plant was described by Ford as the largest assembly plant in the Southern
Hemisphere. It was one O'Neill wanted to highlight for having a model plan to test and
offer treatment for HIV/AIDS-afflicted workers.
When a reporter asked a Ford official whether marijuana smoking affected efficiency,
both Bono and O'Neill expressed interest that some workers smoked the herb.
"They do?" a surprised O'Neill interjected. "What do I know? That's something I don't
know anything about."
The Ford official said the practice was not unusual at a huge industrial plant and indicated
there was some tolerance as long as safety was not jeopardized.
Bono took it coolly.
"I was getting off on the diesel fumes myself," he joked.
The two are halfway through a four-country tour of Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and
Ethiopia, meeting government officials but also touring businesses, hospitals and schools.
They spent part of Friday afternoon in impoverished Soweto, on the outskirts of
Johannesburg. Their mission is to find out why so much past aid spending so little
advanced living conditions and how that might be changed in future.
May 24, 2002
From Reuters:
Bono, O'Neill Tour Catches Scent of Marijuana
May 24, 2002
PRETORIA, South Africa (Reuters) - It was a moment that could only happen when a
rock star and a former captain of industry team up to check out operations in an
industrial plant.
As Irish rocker Bono and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill toured a huge Ford Motor
Co. plant near Pretoria on Friday, the pungent odor of marijuana smoke attracted the
attention of some of their entourage.
A Ford representative confirmed some of the 3,500 employees at the cavernous plant
did smoke the herb.
The plant was described by Ford as the largest assembly plant in the Southern
Hemisphere. It was one O'Neill wanted to highlight for having a model plan to test and
offer treatment for HIV/AIDS-afflicted workers.
When a reporter asked a Ford official whether marijuana smoking affected efficiency,
both Bono and O'Neill expressed interest that some workers smoked the herb.
"They do?" a surprised O'Neill interjected. "What do I know? That's something I don't
know anything about."
The Ford official said the practice was not unusual at a huge industrial plant and indicated
there was some tolerance as long as safety was not jeopardized.
Bono took it coolly.
"I was getting off on the diesel fumes myself," he joked.
The two are halfway through a four-country tour of Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and
Ethiopia, meeting government officials but also touring businesses, hospitals and schools.
They spent part of Friday afternoon in impoverished Soweto, on the outskirts of
Johannesburg. Their mission is to find out why so much past aid spending so little
advanced living conditions and how that might be changed in future.
