20/07/2007 01:00:00
UK: And they inhaled... cabinet ministers line up to admit youthful
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Days after they backed toughening the law on cannabis, six cabinet
ministers have owned up to smoking the drug during their student years.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, admitted experimenting with pot while
she was an undergraduate at Oxford. She said: "I was wrong when I did it
more than 25 years ago. I am not looking to excuse that."
Ms Smith added: "I've learnt my lesson and I've got a responsibility as
Home Secretary now to make sure we put in place the laws, the support,
the information to make sure we carry on bringing cannabis use down."
Her confession - and Downing Street's insistence that Gordon Brown was
relaxed over the issue - opened the floodgates as a succession of other
cabinet ministers confirmed they had taken the drug during student days.
Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, said he had tried cannabis
"occasionally in my youth", while his deputy, Andy Burnham, the Chief
Secretary to the Treasury, said he had smoked it "once or twice at
university and never since".
A spokeswoman for Ruth Kelly said the Transport Secretary had tried
cannabis in "her youth", adding: "She realised it was foolish and gave up."
John Hutton, the Business and Enterprise Secretary, also dabbled with
the drug as an undergraduate more than 30 years ago. His spokesman said:
"He regrets doing it now having seen the damage that cannabis can cause."
Both Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, and Yvette Cooper, the
Housing Minister who has the right to attend cabinet meetings, have
previously admitted trying cannabis. Two of Ms Smith's junior ministers
at the Home Office, Tony McNulty and Vernon Coaker, also said they had
taken the drug as students. Mr McNulty said the Prime Minister's view
that how ministers dealt with such questions was a personal matter was
"exactly right". He said: "Anyone who went to university in the late
Seventies, early Eighties, would have encountered and may have consumed
cannabis. I certainly did, just like Jacqui did, and I think people
would be more surprised if you managed to avoid it."
The confessions came the day after Mr Brown announced he had asked Ms
Smith to re-examine the decision three years ago to downgrade cannabis
from a class B to class C substance. The review, which looks certain to
reverse the policy, was endorsed by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
The candour of so many of the Prime Minister's team is in contrast to
David Cameron's refusal to comment directly on the disclosure that he
smoked cannabis while a schoolboy at Eton College and a student at Oxford.
He has said: "Like many people, I did things when I was young that I
shouldn't have done and that I regret. But I do believe that politicians
are entitled to a past that remains private."
Members of the Shadow Cabinet also refuse to say whether they had
youthful experience with soft drugs, apart from David Davis, the Shadow
Home Secretary, who has made clear he had never touched them.
Holding up their hands
Jacqui Smith Home Secretary
"I was wrong when I did it more than 25 years ago. I am not looking to
excuse that."
Andy Burnham Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Used it "once or twice at university and never since".
Ruth Kelly Transport Secretary
Smoked it "in her youth [but] realised it was foolish and gave up".
John Hutton Business and Enterprise Secretary
"He smoked cannabis at university over 30 years ago. He regrets doing it."
Alistair Darling Chancellor
Smoked cannabis "occasionally in my youth".
Hazel Blears Communities Secretary
"I had cannabis from somebody that I knew and I never did it again
because it didn't work."
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2785461.ece
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12714
Author:
The Independent via UKCIA
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