MINISTER'S SON ADMITS SALE OF HASH

LONDON (AP) -- A Cabinet minister's son admitted to police Monday that he
sold hashish to a newspaper reporter.

William Straw, 17, made the formal admission at Kennington police station
in south London. He was accompanied to the station by his father, Home
Secretary Jack Straw, who has sharply criticized any liberalization of
Britain's drug laws.

Scotland Yard said the younger Straw signed a form admitting the offense
and agreeing to an official warning.

The warning will be deleted from his record if he commits no further
offenses for three years, a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said, speaking with
customary anonymity.

On Dec. 24, The Mirror, a mass-circulation tabloid, reported that a
journalist bought .07 ounces of hashish for $16.50 from the young Straw,
although he wasn't identified at the time.

Mirror reporter Dawn Alford said she posed as a real estate agent in
training looking for drugs, and struck up a conversation with the youth in
a London pub.

Alford, 30, was charged with possession of hashish. But Scotland Yard said
Monday that she had been notified that no further action would be taken.

When the paper informed the minister of the story, he took his son to the
police station where he was arrested and released without bail.

As a juvenile, William should not have been identified under English law.
But his identity became the worst-kept political secret in Britain and
after his name was published in Scotland and elsewhere in Europe, a High
Court judge on Jan. 2 lifted a ban on naming him.

The elder Straw issued a statement Monday expressing hope that William will
not suffer additionally ``simply because he is my son.''

``William is now learning the lessons of this episode and he, of course,
has my support in doing so,'' the minister said.

Oxford University has informed William that he will still be able to enter
New College later this year.

Straw has opposed any move to relax laws on marijuana, and has often said
that parents need to take greater responsibility for their children's
behavior. While he admitted being embarrassed, he said his son's behavior
did not change his attitude about drug laws.

Straw said he had no intention of resigning, and Prime Minister Tony Blair
has given him his full support.