Britain's Cabinet Office Minister, Dr Mo Mowlam, yesterday insisted she was the right person to lead the government's anti-drugs drive, despite admitting she smoked cannabis as a student, Luke Holland reports.
"I haven't made any secret of being a child of the Sixties," she told Sky News.
She continued: "I tried marijuana, didn't like it particularly and unlike President Clinton I did inhale."
The former Northern Ireland secretary rejected suggestions that her experience made her unfit to maintain her position. "I will continue to fight hard against drugs that can kill people, like heroin and cocaine," she said.
She dismissed reports that she intended to sack the government's Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator, Mr Keith Hellawell, and rejected calls that she should give up her Cabinet seat.
Mr Hellawell poured scorn on Conservative Party demands that Dr Mowlam divulge the details of her experimentation with drugs. "I think we have to stop this idea of witch-hunts and pointing the finger," he said.
"If there continues to be a denial, or if there continues to be a label on people, you know - `you're a bad person if you ever took drugs', then we'll never move forward, and there needs to be more openness."
The drugs campaigner Ms Janet Betts, whose daughter, Leah, died after taking ecstasy, also dismissed calls for Dr Mowlam to be removed from office. "It is ridiculous to say that she should be sacked. Indeed, some would say that it is a good thing she has first-hand experience of drugs if she is heading the government's drugs campaign," she said.
A Downing Street spokesman said Dr Mowlam still had the Prime Minister's full backing, too.