COLLEAGUES ROUND ON MOWLAM OVER DRUGS

Mo Mowlam, the Minister in charge of the Government's drugs policy,
has come under fire from some of her Cabinet colleagues for admitting
she once smoked cannabis.

The popular Labour MP, who raised eyebrows for suggesting drugs could
be legalised for medical purposes, admitted yesterday that her
confession about her student days had met with disapproval from some
colleagues.

Amid signs that her free-and-easy approach to drugs has caused anger
among the hard-line opponents to legalisation, she claimed her honesty
had helped her in her role as the Government's anti-drugs
co-ordinator.

But in Cabinet the reaction had in some cases been hostile. "It is
difficult because some agree with me and some don't, but that's
politics," she said.

And in a suggestion that Mr Tony Blair himself, with three children in
school and a fourth on the way, was far from comfortable with her
admission, she added: "I have talked to the Prime Minister, but I
think it is better if I leave it at that."

Ms Mowlam's star has been on the wane for months amid claims that Mr
Blair was uncomfortable with her popularity with the Labour grassroots.

Last autumn she was removed as Northern Ireland Secretary and demoted
to the Cabinet Office after insisting on being handed the health portfolio.

Addressing a conference on drug abuse by young people, which was
formally opened by Queen Noor of Jordan, she backed research into the
medical usefulness of cannabis in tackling diseases such as multiple
sclerosis.

But she stressed that she was not calling for the drug to be
legalised.

She said afterwards that she had been right to come clean about her
past. Earlier this month she revealed she had smoked cannabis and
"unlike Bill Clinton" had inhaled - but did not like it.

"Honesty is important on any subject and I think that being clear and
honest with people shows they can trust you on what you say. It
actually helps that some of the young people I have spoken to . . .
feel and believe I have a greater understanding of what they are up
to," she said.

Ministers have come under fire for their failure to make a dent in the
drugs epidemic despite the appointment of "drugs czar" Keith
Hellawell. But they insist their 10-year long-term strategy will
eventually show results.

On Monday, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Matthew Taylor became
the latest politician to admit experimenting with drugs. In what
threatens to turn into a pre-election ritual for any MP who came of
age in the Sixties or later, he said he tried cannabis while studying
at Oxford in the 1980s and found it disgusting.