Jo Swinson has admitted she smoked cannabis at university — and she “enjoyed it”.
The Liberal Democrat leader revealed her experiences as she called for a “sensible approach” to drugs policy.
She told BBC’s Newsnight she had not tried cannabis recently but added: “I did at university. I’m not going to be one of those people who says, ‘I tried it once and I didn’t really inhale.’
“Yes, I enjoyed it. And it wasn’t unusual. Lots of people do it and we should enable them to do it more safely if they are going to.”
The party yesterday launched its manifesto with a flagship policy of legalising cannabis.
The manifesto pledged to introduce a regulated market for the drug, with limits on potency levels.
The party claims this could raise £1.5 billion through sales in licensed shops to over-18s, with the cash being used to fight crime.
Ms Swinson added: “There is police time that gets used criminalising young people who are doing something which a big chunk of the adult population admits to having done.”
She rejected criticism that legalisation could have a negative impact on mental health, saying users were not being deterred by the drug being illegal at the moment.
In 1992 President Bill Clinton famously admitted he had tried cannabis but “didn’t inhale”.
