Subj: UK: Briefing - Hague to forgive drug 'experiments'



Source: Times, The (UK)



Pubdate: February 9 2000





Briefing - Hague to forgive drug 'experiments'



WILLIAM HAGUE said yesterday that he would forgive any Tory MP who revealed

themselves as a past user of cannabis - at the same time as he pledged to

bring down the full force of the law on soft-drug users (Roland Watson

writes).



The Tory leader said that although none of his frontbench team had yet

admitted smoking cannabis, it was possible that a senior colleague might

make an admission in future. "It will arise in other cases," he said.



However, past misdeeds need not prevent them fighting the anti-drugs cause

as long as they did so with "enthusiasm and belief". His announcement came

as he unveiled the party's new, tougher, policy on drugs under which being

caught in possession of even soft drugs within 400 metres of a school

should be considered an "aggravating factor" in sentencing, pointing to a

jail sentence.