THERE used to be a time when it would have been political suicide for an MP to admit to have taken drugs, just as it was once seen as a career-killer for a politician to admit to being gay.

Thankfully, the days of MPs having to deny their sexuality have long gone and it is surely the same when it comes to cannabis.

There is fevered speculation in Westminster about whether Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was right to admit to smoking cannabis 25 years ago.

Well, of course she was right. It is always preferable to be honest and transparent - particularly in politics - and Ms Smith is better off coming clean and getting the issue out of the way now, rather than being exposed at some point in the future.

There is a widespread acceptance in society that people do silly, irresponsible things when they are young - and politicians are only people.

Ms Smith, and her fellow MPs who have confessed to smoking pot as students, need have no fear of any significant public backlash and others would be well advised to do the same.

What is much more important for the Home Secretary is that she and the Government make the right decision on whether to reverse the decision of three years ago to downgrade cannabis from Class B to Class C.

With many doctors and social workers now challenging the view that cannabis is relatively benign, it is right that the Government reviews that decision with care.

What Jacqui Smith did with cannabis in the dim and distant past is far less significant than what she does with it in the future.