Pubdate: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 Source: Guardian, The (UK) Copyright: Guardian Media Group 1999 Contact: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ Author: Nicholas Watt, Political Correspondent CODEINE TABLET LEAVES DRUG TEST MP WITH A HEADACHE He is a Thatcherite favourite who once demonstrated his impeccable rightwing credentials by describing cannabis-smoking contemporaries at university as "inadequate, weedy souls". But the former Conservative home office minister David Maclean almost found himself on the wrong side of the law yesterday after failing a voluntary drug test at a police conference. Mr Maclean, who spent his ministerial career railing against the dangers of drugs, declaring that they "ruined lives and communities", lent his support to new drug testing equipment at the Police Superintendents' Association conference by volunteering a urine sample. But officers at the conference, who were delighted that such a prominent figure had agreed to draw attention to their new equipment, shuffled around in embarrassment when the results of the test showed that traces of opiates - of which heroin and morphine are types - had been discovered in Mr Maclean's sample. Mr Maclean, who is never short of a soundbite, was momentarily stumped. "My immediate reaction was 'Good Lord how can that be'," he said. But he soon regained his composure. "One of the experts on the stand asked if I had been taking any codeine painkillers recently and the answer was yes. I had taken some tablets the night before and he said he assumed that's what it was." Mr Maclean had taken a headache tablet on Tuesday night which showed up in the test. But he will have to wait until a more detailed test of his sample is carried out next week to clear his name. Mr Maclean, a Scot who took over William Whitelaw's Cumbria seat in 1983, is one of the most outspoken Conservative rightwingers. He was a hardliner at the home office even by the standards of his then boss Michael Howard. At the launch of one anti-drugs strategy in 1997 he said: "Drug taking ruins lives and destroys communities. It is important that our society does everything it can to protect everyone in Britain from the harm caused by drug dealers." A spokesman for the police superintendents' association rallied to Mr Maclean's aid by praising him for volunteering for the test and saying that he would be cleared by next week's more rigorous test. The issue of drugs has become something of a taboo subject at Westminster, with the two main parties competing with each other to sound more hardline. Jack Straw, who faced embarrassment himself when his son was caught dealing drugs two years ago, will not countenance a debate on whether to legalise soft drugs for medicinal purposes. Only the Liberal Democrats say the issue of whether to legalise should be debated. Soon after becoming leader, Charles Kennedy said that the main parties should have the confidence to face up to the issue and hold a debate. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea