AND THEY INHALED... CABINET MINISTERS LINE UP TO ADMIT YOUTHFUL CANNABIS USE

Days after they backed toughening the law on cannabis, six cabinet
ministers have owned up to smoking the drug during their student years.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, admitted experimenting with pot
while she was an undergraduate at Oxford. She said: "I was wrong when
I did it more than 25 years ago. I am not looking to excuse that."

Ms Smith added: "I've learnt my lesson and I've got a responsibility
as Home Secretary now to make sure we put in place the laws, the
support, the information to make sure we carry on bringing cannabis
use down."

Her confession - and Downing Street's insistence that Gordon Brown was
relaxed over the issue - opened the floodgates as a succession of
other cabinet ministers confirmed they had taken the drug during
student days.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, said he had tried cannabis
"occasionally in my youth", while his deputy, Andy Burnham, the Chief
Secretary to the Treasury, said he had smoked it "once or twice at
university and never since".

A spokeswoman for Ruth Kelly said the Transport Secretary had tried
cannabis in "her youth", adding: "She realised it was foolish and gave
up."

John Hutton, the Business and Enterprise Secretary, also dabbled with
the drug as an undergraduate more than 30 years ago. His spokesman
said: "He regrets doing it now having seen the damage that cannabis
can cause."

Both Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, and Yvette Cooper, the
Housing Minister who has the right to attend cabinet meetings, have
previously admitted trying cannabis. Two of Ms Smith's junior
ministers at the Home Office, Tony McNulty and Vernon Coaker, also
said they had taken the drug as students. Mr McNulty said the Prime
Minister's view that how ministers dealt with such questions was a
personal matter was "exactly right". He said: "Anyone who went to
university in the late Seventies, early Eighties, would have
encountered and may have consumed cannabis. I certainly did, just like
Jacqui did, and I think people would be more surprised if you managed
to avoid it."

The confessions came the day after Mr Brown announced he had asked Ms
Smith to re-examine the decision three years ago to downgrade cannabis
from a class B to class C substance. The review, which looks certain
to reverse the policy, was endorsed by the Cabinet on Tuesday.

The candour of so many of the Prime Minister's team is in contrast to
David Cameron's refusal to comment directly on the disclosure that he
smoked cannabis while a schoolboy at Eton College and a student at
Oxford.

He has said: "Like many people, I did things when I was young that I
shouldn't have done and that I regret. But I do believe that
politicians are entitled to a past that remains private."

Members of the Shadow Cabinet also refuse to say whether they had
youthful experience with soft drugs, apart from David Davis, the
Shadow Home Secretary, who has made clear he had never touched them.

Holding Up Their Hands

Jacqui Smith Home Secretary

"I was wrong when I did it more than 25 years ago. I am not looking to
excuse that."

Andy Burnham Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Used it "once or twice at university and never since".

Ruth Kelly Transport Secretary

Smoked it "in her youth [but] realised it was foolish and gave
up".

John Hutton Business and Enterprise Secretary

"He smoked cannabis at university over 30 years ago. He regrets doing
it."

Alistair Darling Chancellor

Smoked cannabis "occasionally in my youth".

Hazel Blears Communities Secretary

"I had cannabis from somebody that I knew and I never did it again
because it didn't work."