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Published December 05, 2014

Sept. 26, 2014: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. speaks in Washington. (AP)

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul hinted in an interview Friday that he smoked marijuana in his youth, adding that voters should not confuse his push for reduced criminal penalties for drug offenses as an endorsement of drug use.

Paul, who announced plans this week to seek re-election to the Senate in 2016 and is actively exploring whether to run for president, said he "wasn't a choir boy" when asked by Louisville television station WHAS if he had used marijuana while in college.

"Let's just say I wasn't a choir boy when I was in college and that I can recognize that kids make mistakes, and I can say that I made mistakes when I was a kid," Paul said in an interview broadcast Friday night.

"I think drugs, marijuana included, aren't good for you," Paul said. "I don't want to be someone who is seen as being this person advocating for drug use. I think they're not a good idea."

The recreational use of marijuana is legal in two states and voters in two more plus the District of Columbia have approved measures to join them. Paul told a group of law students at Northern Kentucky University last month he would not support lifting the federal ban on marijuana use, but said he did not want the federal government to try and overturn state laws that have made the drug legal.

Paul told WHAS he has focused on reducing criminal penalties for some nonviolent drug offenses, which he said have been administered unfairly and disproportionally impact the nation's minorities.

He noted that the past three presidents "either admitted or skirted around the issue" of using illegal drugs in their youth.

"If they had been poor or lived in poverty or lived in one of our big cities where there are a lot of (police) patrols, there's a good chance none of them would have ever excelled," Paul said. "So I have a great deal of personal sympathy for people who have made mistakes as a young person."

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Asked about marijuana, Rand Paul says 'I made mistakes'