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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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I came a cropper on drugs, says Widdecombe Andy McSmith Telegraph Saturday 18 Nov 2000 ANN WIDDECOMBE admitted yesterday that she "came a cropper" on the day she announced that there would be zero tolerance of drug taking under a Conservative government. With a humility rare in a front-line politician, the shadow home secretary said: "I'm not really sure what went wrong." But she admitted exposing herself to parody and ridicule. Her much-criticised policy, which appeared to threaten thousands of young people with £100 fines and criminal records for using drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy, is under review. It ran into trouble almost immediately after she announced it at the Tory conference last month, not least because eight of her colleagues in the shadow cabinet had experimented with drugs in their youth. Miss Widdecombe told BBC News 24: "I am a very practical politician and you know that once you've got a policy - it doesn't matter how unfairly it may have been parodied or ridiculed - that has been through those sort of rough waters you would be a very great fool if you didn't say, 'Right, let's see if we can do it in a slightly different way'." She said: "As far as I was concerned we had a policy which I thought would have been properly cleared. It was not one of the best moments, but these things happen." Miss Widdecombe said that the media had been longing for her to "come a cropper" but she said: "I've managed to face you lot down before and I will do it again." She explained later that her strategy for tackling drug abuse was still "overwhelmingly intact", but the party is consulting on policies for discouraging drug users.
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