UK conservative leader admits trying cannabis

an AOL poll showed that 62% of people say it wont affect thier vote....looks like opinion is shifting to a more reasonable ground, and i think the wrighters were a bit pissed off that it didnt cause the controvesy they were hoping for,

i think the general public reaction was somthing along the lines of "so what" not much of a news article.



"David Cameron is drawn into controversy over reports that he smoked cannabis when a schoolboy at Eton.

The Mail on Sunday reported that school authorities called police in after suspicions that a number of pupils had been involved with the drug.

Mr Cameron, then 15, was "gated'' - confined to the school grounds - for two weeks after admitting smoking the drug, but was not suspended, according to reports.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: "This happened almost 25 years ago and David has always maintained that politicians have a right to a private life before they come into politics.''

Mr Cameron faced repeated questioning over his previous experience of drugs during the campaign for the Conservative leadership in 2005, after he refused to say whether he had ever used illicit substances.

In a TV interview then, he said: "I'm allowed to have had a private life before politics in which we make mistakes and we do things that we should not and we are all human and we err and stray.''

His refusal to deny former use of narcotics sparked suspicions then that he may have drug secrets in his past.

Former Conservative chairman Lord Tebbit said that the new revelations would not do Mr Cameron much good with Tory activists, but should not disqualify him from high office.

Lord Tebbit told BBC News 24: "I think it matters, but not in the sense that because when somebody was 18 or 20 they did something that was pretty damn stupid, that it disqualifies them from holding high office in their 40s when hopefully they have come to their senses.

"I think we have to take a reasoned view about these things, and the question now is whether or not he understands it is a highly dangerous drug and should be treated as such.''

Lord Tebbit urged Mr Cameron to come clean about his drug use, in order to put the story behind him.

"I would have advised him to clear it up early on, and my advice to him now would be `Get it out of the way, get it over with and it will be a seven-day wonder. If you don't, people will keep turning up with another expose.''

Shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth - who has previously admitted smoking cannabis as a youngster - told News 24: "What happened 20 years ago at school seems to me to have no bearing whatsoever on what is happening today.

"I don't think it makes any difference at all. David has always said very clearly that what people do in their private life before they go into politics is of no concern to people once they are in politics.

"People have a right to a private life. We are talking about a schoolboy here, 20 years ago. I don't see why it is a matter of public interest at all.''