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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Blair backs cabinet minister over drug incident
Reuters Wednesday 24 Dec 1997 Labour government faced acute embarrassment on Wednesday after the 17-year-old son of an unnamed cabinet minister was arrested for selling cannabis. The case was revealed in the Daily Mirror tabloid newspaper, whose reporter Dawn Alford said she had bought the drug from the youth in a London public house. The newspaper then told the minister, who confronted the son and went with him to a police station on Monday where he was arrested and then released on bail. Blair's government has followed an ultra-hard line on drugs. It said a campaign by the liberal Independent on Sunday newspaper to have cannabis legalised was irresponsible. The Mirror -- normally slavish loyal to the seven-month-old Labour government -- splashed its story over five pages. Alford said she went to the pub after a tipoff and then paid 10 pounds ($16.70) for a small packet of cannabis resin. Blair's official spokesman told reporters: ``The prime minister has spoken to the cabinet minister concerned and fully supports the parent's action.'' The statement appeared to leave open the possibility that the minister involved might have to quit. The boy was not named since defendants under 18 remain anonymous until formally charged with an offence. The prime minister, who has three pre-teenage children, spoke to his unnamed colleague about the incident on Monday by telephone, officials said. Government lawyers will now decide if the minister's son will face charges. British law lays down a maximum sentence of 14 years jail for supplying cannabis but offenders are normally fined if the quantity is small. Several members of Blair's 22-member cabinet, which includes five women, have sons. ($ - 0.600 British Pounds) ^REUTERS
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