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UK: Mo: I did inhale
ccguide Monday 17 Jan 2000 Pubdate: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 Source: Daily Record and Sunday Mail (UK) Copyright: 2000 Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd. Contact: Address: Anderston Quay, Glasgow, Scotland, G3 8DA Website: http://www.record-mail.co.uk/rm/ MO: I DID INHALE Boss of drug war admits cannabis use as student MO MOWLAM, head of the Government's drugs war, has admitted smoking cannabis. And unlike Bill Clinton, she did inhale. The Cabinet Office Minister's revelation that she dabbled with marijuana as a student will embarrass Tony Blair, who put her in charge of the fight against drugs. She will play a key role in ruling on recommendations by the Runciman Committee, which is expected to call for cannabis to be decriminalised. Blair is known to be dead against such a move. Mowlam has described her youth as "pretty wild" but has always side-stepped detailed questions about it. However, she told an interviewer yesterday: "I tried marijuana and did not particularly like it. "Unlike President Clinton, I did inhale, but it was not part of my life. That's what happened." Mowlam, who says she found 60s pot-smokers "boring", experimented with the drug while a postgraduate politics student at Iowa University in the USA in the 70s. A fellow-student told at the weekend of seeing the former Ulster Secretary with a joint at a party. Mowlam denied her "illegal" act meant she should resign from the Cabinet, and said it had not damaged her credibility as a force against drugs. She said: "No, because if it did Tony Blair would decide and I wouldn't stay. "If I had bought it, sold it, used it frequently, it might have done - but I didn't. It happened in America, it was something many people experimented with." But she admitted: "The papers will be full tomorrow with claims that I am unfit to look after the drugs policy." In the interview, Mowlam hinted that a crackdown on cannabis use was low on her list of priorities. She said: "I will continue to fight hard against the drugs that can kill people, like heroin and cocaine." A Downing Street spokes-man backed Mowlam, saying Blair "firmly believes she is the right person for the job". And her Tory shadow Andrew Lansley - perhaps mindful of her popularity with the public - refused to call for her resignation. Scotland's drugs policy is still controlled from Westminster, although the Scottish Parliament can debate the issues. A third of MSPs who answered a recent survey called for cannabis to be decriminalised, and opinion polls suggest more than half of Scotland's young people want it made legal. The many opponents of legalisation claim it is dangerous and a gateway to harder drugs. An estimated five million Britons use cannabis regularly. - --- MAP posted-by: Greg
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