PRINCE HARRY ADMITS MARIJUANA USE

LONDON - Britain's 17-year-old Prince Harry was taken to a rehab center
after he admitted he had smoked marijuana and illegally drank alcoholic
beverages, the first public embarrassment involving one of Princess Diana's
children since her death.

The story, broken by Sunday's News of the World tabloid under the headline
"Harry's Drug Shame," and all but confirmed by the royal family, dominated
British news reports all day.

It also led to widespread speculation about what it will mean for the royal
family and for Prince Harry, who could conceivably be expelled from Eton,
the prestigious private school.

But given how many parents have faced similar problems with their
teen-agers, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles won
praise for the way he had dealt with Harry, who is third in line for the
British throne after his father and brother.

Blair, whose son Euan, then 16, was arrested when police found him drunk
and vomiting in London in July 2000, said Charles had faced a difficult
situation.

"I know this myself," Blair told the British Broadcasting Corp. "I think
the way that Prince Charles and the royal family have handled it is
absolutely right and they have done it in a very responsible and, as you
would expect, in a very sensitive way for their child."

The problem drew comparisons to the one that President Bush had faced last
year, when one of his twin teen-age daughters was charged with using
someone else's identification to try to buy a drink at a restaurant in Texas.

The charge was eventually dropped after Jenna Bush showed proof that she
had performed community service, attended alcohol awareness classes and
paid a $100 fine.

Marijuana use is illegal in Britain and the United States. The legal
drinking age is 18 in Britain, and 21 in Texas.

Harry drank with friends at a pub last summer near Charles' Highgrove
country estate in western England and smoked marijuana with friends,
according to the media reports.

After learning of his son's drug use, Prince Charles sent Harry, then 16,
to a drug rehabilitation center in south London for a day.

Harry - who was 12 when Diana died in a car accident in 1997 after
divorcing Charles - did not need therapy at Featherstone Lodge, but spent
the day talking to recovering addicts.

Asked about the reports, Charles' office at St. James's Palace said: "This
was a serious matter which was resolved within the family and is now in the
past and closed."

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the spokesman also told The Associated
Press the royal family did not dispute the reports about Harry's drinking
and marijuana use or the guidance he received at the rehab center.

Bill Puddicombe, chief executive of Phoenix House Treatment Service for
Drug Dependency, which runs Featherstone Lodge, said Harry had visited at
the request of his father, a patron of the center.

"As we understood, it was an opportunity for the Prince of Wales to teach
Prince Harry about our work and the consequences of taking drugs,"
Puddicombe said. "He came for a couple of hours on a day in late summer and
talked to several people in recovery - heroin and cocaine addicts mostly."

Charles was alerted to his son's behavior by a Highgrove staff member, who
noticed a strong smell of marijuana, the newspaper reported. When Charles
confronted Harry about his drinking and marijuana use, the boy confessed,
the paper said.

On Sunday, a commission that established rules to protect the private lives
of Harry and William from media intrusions reminded the press that it must
obey them now that the boys are back at school.