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19/07/2007
Home Secretary confesses to smoking cannabis
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has admitted to reporters that she smoked cannabis while at university.
Ms Smith, 44, told the BBC that she smoked cannabis when she was attending Oxford University in the 1980s.
She said that she smoked it "a few times" and conceded that she had broken the law. However, she said that she had never taken any other illegal drugs.
Ms Smith's comments came a day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that he was considering changing the law on cannabis, reclassifying the drug back to a Class B drug. It was declassified to a Class C drug in 2004.
Ms Smith is not the first Home Secretary to admit taking cannabis. Charles Clarke also said that he smoked the drug at university.
Last year, a small quantity of cannabis resin was found in the home of Ms Smith's predecessor John Reid.
Mr Reid denied all knowledge of the drug, which was found in a guest room of the house.
On Thursday, another Home Office minister, Tony McNulty, also admitted smoking cannabis while at university and it was later reported that both new Chancellor Alistair Darling and Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly had taken the drug as well.
(KMcA/SP)
Ms Smith, 44, told the BBC that she smoked cannabis when she was attending Oxford University in the 1980s.
She said that she smoked it "a few times" and conceded that she had broken the law. However, she said that she had never taken any other illegal drugs.
Ms Smith's comments came a day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that he was considering changing the law on cannabis, reclassifying the drug back to a Class B drug. It was declassified to a Class C drug in 2004.
Ms Smith is not the first Home Secretary to admit taking cannabis. Charles Clarke also said that he smoked the drug at university.
Last year, a small quantity of cannabis resin was found in the home of Ms Smith's predecessor John Reid.
Mr Reid denied all knowledge of the drug, which was found in a guest room of the house.
On Thursday, another Home Office minister, Tony McNulty, also admitted smoking cannabis while at university and it was later reported that both new Chancellor Alistair Darling and Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly had taken the drug as well.
(KMcA/SP)
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