New York Times Editor Admits He's Smoked Pot Before

Following The New York Times' very public call to legalize marijuana in the United States, the paper's editorial page editor has made his own history with pot openly known.

Andrew Rosenthal told ABC News’ Jon Karl Sunday morning that he has in fact smoked marijuana.

"I’ve never asked the people that work for me whether they smoke pot, and I’m not going to ask," he said. "I have smoked pot in my life. I went to college in Colorado in the 1970s, you figure it out."

Rosenthal's comments came just after the Times' editorial board rolled out its new pro-pot legalization series urging Washington to repeal the ban on the drug. The six-part series will run from July 26 to Aug. 5, and can be found at nytimes.com/HighTime.

While Rosenthal may claim that he's never asked staffers about their marijuana use, The New York Times is still one of a few major media companies requiring prospective new employees to take a drug test, Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy told Gawker for a story earlier this month.

Rosenthal wrote in a blog post Saturday that the paper's decision to launch the series came from a "need to speak out" and create a "national conversation" around legalization.

"As more and more states liberalized their marijuana laws in open defiance of the federal ban, it became clear to us that there had to be a national approach to the issue," he wrote.