Seven Cabinet members admit taking cannabis

Seven cabinet ministers have taken  Cannabis (drug), it emerged today after Home Secretary  Jacqui Smith admitted she smoked cannabis at university.

Four other members of the Cabinet, including   the Chancellor, followed Ms Smith's lead and said they had tried the drug with two others already having confessed to breaking the law.

Two junior ministers also said today they had taken cannabis in the past.

Related Links

*Puffing politicians: list of cannabis confessions

*Violent crime and robbery on the rise

*Teen troubles . . . or drugs?

A day after the Government announced it had commissioned a review to upgrade cannabis from a Class C to B drug, Ms Smith told GMTV she had been "wrong" when she had tried it at university.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, later confirmed he had used the drug as a student, followed by  Andrew Burnham, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Work and Pensions Secretary  Ruth Kelly and Business Secretary John Hutton.

Communities Secretary  Hazel Blears and  Yvette Cooper, the Housing Minister, who has the right to sit on the Cabinet, had already admitted to trying cannabis in the past, taking the total of Cabinet Ministers to seven.

Two Home Office Ministers,  Tony McNulty and  Vernon Coaker, also admitted to trying the drug.

Mr Brown's spokesman said the Prime Minister - who has denied ever using illicit substances - was "quite relaxed" about his Cabinet colleagues’ admissions of past indiscretions, and was not considering any disciplinary action.

Speaking on GMTV, Ms Smith kicked off the confessions by saying: "I have. I did when I was at university. I haven’t done for at least 25 years."

Shortly afterwards, Mr McNulty told BBC News 24: "At university I encountered it, I smoked it once or twice, and I don’t think many people who were at university at the time didn’t at least encounter it."

Mr Darling said he had tried the drug "occasionally in my youth". His deputy at the Treasury, Chief Secretary Andy Burnham said he had used it "once or twice at university and never since."

Page 1 of 3