A CONTENDER for the Liberal Democrat leadership has claimed he “can’t remember” writing an article advocating the use of hard drugs which appeared under his name in an Oxford student magazine in the 1970s.
Chris Huhne, who is one of the favourites to take over from Sir Menzies Campbell as leader of the Liberal Democrats, wrote in favour of Class A drugs in the February 1973 edition of Isis while he was an undergraduate at Magdalen College.
The article, published under the heading ‘Oxford Escapism’, presents a beginner’s guide to illegal drugs and praises those willing to experiment with them.
“There are a number of people who are open-minded about experimenting with drugs. This tolerance is welcome, and it is only with the aid of this tolerance that drugs can be put in their correct unsensationalist place as a social phenomenon with great and respectable antecedents,” it says.
The text, which is accompanied by a drawing of a hand holding a syringe, also discusses the enjoyable nature of taking opium. “Opium is available in Oxford and, in its natural form can be safely experimented with. Colours, movements and shapes are serenely beautiful, as beautiful as a dream and as realistic as George’s [an Oxford café] at 7.30 on a Monday morning.”
Of LSD Huhne writes, “Acid is manufactured in the labs and is the only drug which is getting cheaper. The considerable number of students at this university who drop acid are well-balanced, highly intelligent people. If one is able to live with oneself then acid holds no surprises.”
The piece, which Huhne wrote as an 18-year-old undergraduate, states that drugs such as opium, LSD, and amphetamines should be an “accepted facet of our society”.
Since then, however, Huhne claims to have no recollection of the article. He told The Times, “To be honest I don’t have any memory of it,” and while insisting that it was his private business whether or not he had taken any of the drugs mentioned, he stressed that “the views that were [expressed in the article] are certainly not my views as they are at the moment.”
He added that he was not entirely responsible for the article’s content. “I was basically putting together large hunks of that, so God knows who wrote it and did anything and I wouldn’t attribute it to me if I were you. I may have edited the piece but as I say I was just bringing together whole loads of stuff.”
His exposition on the benefits of hard drugs was published as part of a longer article on how to “escape” the trials of being a student at Oxford.
Huhne studied at Magdalen College and gained a first-class degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He started writing for Isis early on in his university career and eventually became Co-Editor.
Extracts from the article have been printed in national newspapers as Huhne goes head-to-head with his rival Nicholas Clegg for the Lib Dem leadership following Sir Menzies Campbell’s resignation.
Huhne is one of several political figures whose past has recently come under scrutiny for drug-related reasons.
Earlier this year Home Secretary Jacqui Smith earned the nickname ‘Jacqui Spliff’ after she admitted to smoking cannabis a number of times while an undergraduate at Hertford. Smith later said that her behaviour had been wrong and urged people not to use the drug.
Conservative Party leader David Cameron, who graduated with a first-class degree from Brasenose, also admitted to smoking cannabis as a student at Eton, and speaking to the Independent, a friend recalled him “occasionally [having] a joint or something” while a student at Oxford. Cameron has repeatedly refused to answer questions on whether he took drugs while at Oxford.
Isis haze for drug advocating MP
