HONESTY MAY PROVE TO BE BEST POLICY IN FIGHTING DRUGS

Less than a month after she admitted to having smoked cannabis at
university, Caroline Flint, the minister trying to forge a drugs policy
that will win votes rather than lose them, is unrepentant.

Her boss David Blunkett, her local Labour party and her constituents
have all been supportive. She has, she insists, had no negative feedback.

"Honesty in this area is important. It's about having credibility with
young people and addressing the issue of the drugs that really do
harm," she says.

Her straightforward admission appears to reflect a shift in the
mindset of many politicians, both in government and opposition, with
regard to drugs.

However, this week Ms Flint has found herself having to defend the
government's record on reducing the social harm of hard drugs after an
inspectorate report found the much publicised Street Crime Initiative
had failed in its aim of ensuring drug-addicted robbers received
treatment within 24 hours of release from custody.

Ms Flint admits the report did expose problems of co-ordination and
application in the way that local drug actions deal with offenders who
have been tested for drugs and need help.

She believes the government is "absolutely right" in identifying a
link between hard drugs use and crime, which she says includes
prostitution.

"What is clear is that we have to make sure that all the agencies
concerned see they have a part to play in ensuring that the drugs
strategy works as effectively as possible," she says.

One of the problems hindering government efforts to reduce the
consumption of heroin is the large tracts of opium about to be
harvested in Afghanistan.

"There is no short-term or easy solution in a country which has been
dependant for so long on a single crop economy . . . there is work
that needs to be done in law enforcement and in economic development,"
she adds.

But while Whitehall insiders are beginning to whisper about the
unreality of the government's target of having opium eradicated in
Afghanistan within 10 years, the minister insists she remains optimistic.

"The important thing is that the Afghan president is committed to that
target. I think it is something worth striving for," she says.

While describing the government's drug strategy as "very radical" in
terms of its focus on harm reduction and education, Ms Flint made
clear there will be no great changes to drugs policy before the next
election.

That means no legalisation of cannabis despite its reclassification
and no lower penalties for ecstasy use, which at the moment is
classified as a hard drug.

"Surveys of young people show that making cannabis illegal does act as
a deterrent," she says.

The furthest this government will go with cannabis is to push ahead
with reducing the penalties for those caught in possession.

Ms Flint, who secured her first ministerial job in last month's
reshuffle after six years of unswerving loyalty to Tony Blair, is both
conscious and defensive about her reputation as a careerist "Blair
babe".

She remains both loyal and deeply sceptical about the motivation of
rebellious backbenchers and embittered ex-cabinet ministers.

"What I really object to is the view that people who support the
government don't do that out of conviction . . . those who revolt are
not necessarily right nor do they have a monopoly of the truth," Ms
Flint insists. She says that her loyalty to Mr Blair remains undented
by the pitfalls of the war in Iraq, which she supported, and the
ramifications of the Kelly affair.

"I certainly want to see Tony Blair lead Labour into the next election
and remain as prime minister beyond it," says the minister who in 2001
was returned as MP for Don Valley with a majority of 9,520, down on
14,659 in 1997.