BONO AND O'NEILL CATCH SCENT OF MARIJUANA

PRETORIA, South Africa - As Irish rocker Bono and US Treasury Secretary
Paul O'Neill toured a huge Ford Motor Co plant near Pretoria on Friday, the
pungent odour 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 Ford plant, the largest assembly plant in the Southern Hemisphere, 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 it.

"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
jeopardised.

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.