Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
UK- Home Secretary Jacqui Smith travelled to Wednesfield to support a drug awareness scheme. She spoke to Peter Rhodes.
The kids were hushed, the mayor and councillors listened attentively in the big, hot hall at the Jennie Lee Centre and the Home Secretary said all the right things about drugs.
They mess you up. They destroy families. They ruin careers and waste talent. And because parents feel embarrassed to discuss the subject, sometimes Mum and Dad are the last to know. At this point Jacqui Smith went into full empathy mode. She has a teenage child. She told the audience, as one mother to others: “Being the parent of a teenager is a blooming difficult job.”
And yet the blooming obvious bit of drug-use empathy, the personal issue that sets this Home Secretary apart from most others, went unspoken. Like the elephant in the living room, no-one mentioned the embarrassing fact that Jacqui Smith herself has confessed to doing drugs.
Just over a year ago the former Blair Babe, previously best known for her cleavage, admitted she had smoked cannabis when she was at Oxford University in the 1980s.
She fessed up on the day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a review of UK drugs strategy – including reviewing the cannabis laws.
“I did break the law,” she said. “I was wrong. Drugs are wrong.” She explained she had smoked the drug “just a few times” and “not particularly” enjoyed it.
After yesterday’s public session, part of a drug awareness initiative organised by the city’s five Rotary clubs, it looked as though Jacqui Smith did “not particularly” enjoy being quizzed about it. I broached the subject. Simple question, Home Secretary. You talk about drugs wrecking families, but isn’t the truth that most drug taking is recreational? After all, you smoked cannabis at Oxford and you’ve done okay, right?
A startled look passed over her face. She closed her eyes briefly before answering. Her reply was much the same as she said last year. Drugs do you harm. That is why the Government is reclassifying cannabis because the stuff around today is much stronger than it was. “I did the wrong thing,” she said. “My job now is to help other people not to do it.”
Maybe so. But how are the kids to take the risk of drugs seriously when the Home Secretary herself has dabbled with the stuff and gone on to one of the top jobs in the land?
It is an issue of credibility and it will hang around this engaging and cheerful Home Secretary every time she utters the D-word. In the meantime, Jacqui Smith may be more concerned about the L-word. An embarrassing number of government laptops continuing sensitive information have been lost or nicked lately. Neat in a navy twin set with that famous cleavage hiding behind a demure lime-green top, she had neither handbag nor briefcase.
So where was the Home Secretary’s laptop? “I haven’t got one,” she laughed. Easy question, much relief.
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: expressandstar.com
Copyright: 2008 The Express & Star Newspaper
Contact: Midlands News ? West Midlands Local News - UK News : Express & Star:
Website: Drugs-link haunts Home Secretary : Express & Star:
The kids were hushed, the mayor and councillors listened attentively in the big, hot hall at the Jennie Lee Centre and the Home Secretary said all the right things about drugs.
They mess you up. They destroy families. They ruin careers and waste talent. And because parents feel embarrassed to discuss the subject, sometimes Mum and Dad are the last to know. At this point Jacqui Smith went into full empathy mode. She has a teenage child. She told the audience, as one mother to others: “Being the parent of a teenager is a blooming difficult job.”
And yet the blooming obvious bit of drug-use empathy, the personal issue that sets this Home Secretary apart from most others, went unspoken. Like the elephant in the living room, no-one mentioned the embarrassing fact that Jacqui Smith herself has confessed to doing drugs.
Just over a year ago the former Blair Babe, previously best known for her cleavage, admitted she had smoked cannabis when she was at Oxford University in the 1980s.
She fessed up on the day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a review of UK drugs strategy – including reviewing the cannabis laws.
“I did break the law,” she said. “I was wrong. Drugs are wrong.” She explained she had smoked the drug “just a few times” and “not particularly” enjoyed it.
After yesterday’s public session, part of a drug awareness initiative organised by the city’s five Rotary clubs, it looked as though Jacqui Smith did “not particularly” enjoy being quizzed about it. I broached the subject. Simple question, Home Secretary. You talk about drugs wrecking families, but isn’t the truth that most drug taking is recreational? After all, you smoked cannabis at Oxford and you’ve done okay, right?
A startled look passed over her face. She closed her eyes briefly before answering. Her reply was much the same as she said last year. Drugs do you harm. That is why the Government is reclassifying cannabis because the stuff around today is much stronger than it was. “I did the wrong thing,” she said. “My job now is to help other people not to do it.”
Maybe so. But how are the kids to take the risk of drugs seriously when the Home Secretary herself has dabbled with the stuff and gone on to one of the top jobs in the land?
It is an issue of credibility and it will hang around this engaging and cheerful Home Secretary every time she utters the D-word. In the meantime, Jacqui Smith may be more concerned about the L-word. An embarrassing number of government laptops continuing sensitive information have been lost or nicked lately. Neat in a navy twin set with that famous cleavage hiding behind a demure lime-green top, she had neither handbag nor briefcase.
So where was the Home Secretary’s laptop? “I haven’t got one,” she laughed. Easy question, much relief.
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: expressandstar.com
Copyright: 2008 The Express & Star Newspaper
Contact: Midlands News ? West Midlands Local News - UK News : Express & Star:
Website: Drugs-link haunts Home Secretary : Express & Star:
