Subj: UK: Senior Lib Dem tried cannabis



Source: BBC Online



Date: 24 January, 2000





Senior Lib Dem tried cannabis





Matthew Taylor called for an  "intelligent debate" on drugs



Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Matthew Taylor has become the

latest politician to admit having experimented with illegal drugs.



In an interview with BBC News Online Mr Taylor, 37, said he tried cannabis

while studying at Oxford in the 1980s - but found the experience

"absolutely disgusting" since he did not smoke.



Criticising New Labour's approach to tackling drugs, Mr Taylor called for

"intelligent debate" on the issue of drugs, and criticised the government's

policies for taking no account of most people's experience - particularly the

young.



The government should also differentiate between different kinds

of illegal drugs and drug-taking.



"The reality is, as a whole generation of people ever since

the 1960s have been well aware, that lots of people at some point in

their lives try drugs at some level," he said.



"Some people use them pretty regularly, for some people it really

badly messes up their lives."



"There isn't a simple solution to this," he added. "But these are intelligent

debates that nobody in politics is having and Labour certainly isn't

prepared to have."



Asked if he had ever tried illegal drugs himself, Mr Taylor replied:

"Well, if you said had I been to parties and not encountered drugs

when I was at college, you must obviously be joking," he says.



'Let them throw the first stone'



In his interview with BBC News Online Mr Taylor said: "We've seen

Mo Mowlam saying 'Yes, I did use drugs when I was at university'. Well,

I wasn't there in the 1960s, and in the early 1980s we tended to see

people who used drugs as washed-up hippies on the whole."



"But there was some dope, and when you went to parties dope was

smoked. I've certainly been at parties where dope was smoked."



When asked, he confirmed he had smoked cannabis himself - though

found it an unpleasant experience: "I'm not a smoker, so you'd try a drag

and all you'd do is cough. It was absolutely disgusting."



Mr Taylor accused sensationalist press reporting of creating an

atmosphere that made it difficult to broach the issue of drugs in a

sensible manner, and accused journalists of hypocrisy.



"I doubt that there is a tabloid newspaper journalist who hasn't

encountered drugs at some point or another," he said. "I suspect that of

rather fewer politicians, given the nature of the kind of people who

spend all their hours in the student union rather than partying when

they're students."



"I'd hope that there wasn't the hypocrisy any more where we've seen

politicians condemn people for things which perhaps they did themselves.



"But that's something I've always steered clear of. Let them thrown the

first stone."



Mr Taylor's comments make him the third politician in the space of a

fortnight to admit to having used illegal drugs for recreational

purposes.



Last week Cabinet Office Minister Mo Mowlam confirmed reports that she

had smoked cannabis as a student.



A few days later Lib Dem London mayoral candidate Susan Kramer said

she had occasionally used cannabis as a student.



Mr Taylor is the MP for Truro St Austell. He served as Charles

Kennedy's campaign manager during last summer's leadership contest.