POLICE MINISTER ADMITS SHE TOOK DRUG

HAZEL BLEARS, the Police Minister, admitted yesterday that she had used
cannabis about 25 years ago.

Ms Blears, 47, said that she had only tried the drug once but had no idea
what people were supposed to do with it.

She said: "I literally had cannabis once from somebody that I knew and I
literally never did it again because it didn't work. It had no effect on me."

Ms Blears said that she "never really associated with people who took drugs".

She said that it should not be regarded as a life-or-death issue or it
would exclude some very good people from politics.

The Police Minister maintained her hardline stance on drugs, adding: "There
are better things to do with your life."

She is the second member of David Blunkett's ministerial team to admit to
having taken drugs. Last month Caroline Flint, the Drugs Minister, admitted
that she too had tried cannabis 20 years ago.

Last week it emerged that Ken Macdonald, the incoming Director of Public
Prosecutions, was convicted in 1971 of sending cannabis to a friend.