Can we throw Michael Gove in prison for his cocaine use?

[AlaskanOilBaron]

I mean seriously, this fella was Justice Secretary- i.e. responsible for sending people to prison for using cocaine - and he's used cocaine?

What a complete twat. He tied himself in a pretzel on Andrew Marr trying to talk his way out of it, how he was 'fortunate' and so on - THAT'S EXACTLY THE POINT. He got lucky because he's white, because he's middle class, and so on -so sod the poor fools who haven't been so lucky?

I do hope this is the end of his career.

OK so probably it is in the public interest then to release all the people who are currently serving sentences for drug possession.

Yes, it likely is. Assuming their only crime was possession they should absolutely not be in prison.

I am pro legalisation of all drug use though.

I'd like to remind you of an article he wrote during his time as an MP:

“The knowledge that millennial demand for illegal drugs may lead to the potentially lethal adulteration of some substances hasn’t been used to explain to citizens that the law is there for a purpose,” he wrote.

“Instead it’s been acknowledged that some people feel they have to see in the new millennium in an altered state, so we’ve been given advice on how to ‘minimise’ risk.”

He stated that middle-class professionals were pushing to liberalise drugs laws to deal with their own guilt over taking drugs, adding: “There is a greater sin than hypocrisy. It is the refusal to uphold values because one may oneself have fallen short of them.”

@AlaskanOilBaron the vast majority of people who are currently in prison for possession will be dealers, not casual users. You'd have to go some to get locked up for years.

You are highly, highly unlikely to be incarcerated for having a couple of lines of coke in your possession (a couple of kilos is a different matter) and are much more likely to get a high fine.

I’m not saying he isn’t a twat of colossal proportions. I just think that out of all the awful shit he has done, a line of cocaine 20 years ago is fairly far down the list of things I give a single shit about.

Yes, he should go to prison, his prison sentence will do more for persuading people not to take cocaine than answering questions to the press about being deeply sorry. I think he wanted drugs way more than he wanted to be a politician, he shouldn't run our country.
Why is this tolerated when the rest of us would be sacked and sent to prison.

“There is a greater sin than hypocrisy. It is the refusal to uphold values because one may oneself have fallen short of them.”

Or.... hypocrisy, in other words.

Fucking prick.

I remember an ex colleague being caught with 2 tablets of ecstasy. He told the police (honestly) that they were for personal use and they just let him go. They didn’t think it was worth pursuing. Bigger fish to fry.

As people have said, drug use is rife in some middle/upper class circles. Particularly drugs like cocaine, it really isn’t worth the police pursuing this as the people involved aren’t a threat to society.

If you are given drugs they aren't considered to be in your possession. The person who put the line out for him has committed the offence of possession with intent to supply, however Gove taking drugs that he has not purchased or had in his ownership isn't an offence.

you may have missed a glittering career as a defence lawyer to Tory turds

Shit. Shit shit shit. Shit.

Probably too late to retrain now but SHIT!

If you are given drugs they aren't considered to be in your possession. The person who put the line out for him has committed the offence of possession with intent to supply, however Gove taking drugs that he has not purchased or had in his ownership isn't an offence.

Why would you assume he hasn't bought them himself? Hardly unusual for a journalist to buy a couple of grams of coke is it?

ShitatScarrble Good point, well made.
Next up: Cliff Richard advertising cigarettes.

He is a hypocritical PoS.

Dont you just love the 'historic' use get out claus that he used, they never admit to present use do they?

Historic use my arse.

Every single MP should be made to do a hair strand test and all of those that cocaine shows up in should be sacked.

Why would you assume he hasn't bought them himself?

Why would you assume he has? It's hardly unusual for coke to be at parties. (Although not the sort of parties I've ever been to that I've noticed!)

As others have said, you don't get sent to prison for taking coke and talking coke at a party isn't possession.

boneyback I don't think he is a hypocrite. Perhaps his experience with drug use 20 years ago has shaped his current stance. I would rather that our MP's are making decisions based on life experience. Too many politicians have no clue about what goes on in the real world so I would rather that they have experienced these things and are making decisions based on that.

Has Boris said this yet? "Revenge is a dish best served cold". Gove waves goodbye to number 10. 👋

I don’t care, people do stupid things when young. As far as we know he’s not doing lines off his assistants boobs at work every morning now.

Middle class coke users like Gove are a massive threat to society. Just because they aren’t the ones physically holding the knife that stabs the 14 boy on the council estate doesn’t mean they aren’t partly responsible. Kids are being killed and forced into county lines drug running in order to fuel middle class dinner parties.

We don't know the circumstances. If Gove was offered a line of coke at a party then he was not in possession of it.

Boris also admitted taking coke in the past.

To hell with the lot of them. Fucking hypocrites.

Diane Abbott (who I can't stand) has a bloody M&S can of mojito on the tube and she was annihilated!!

this

I more admire his honesty.

Growing up I was surrounded by users and that's Very leafy expensive part of the country!!
We need more people to be honest about using drugs!

And someone who has used it I feel is far more able to comment on it.

Crinkle77
I don't think he is a hypocrite. Perhaps his experience with drug use 20 years ago has shaped his current stance. I would rather that our MP's are making decisions based on life experience. Too many politicians have no clue about what goes on in the real world so I would rather that they have experienced these things and are making decisions based on that.

This would be fine if it wasn't for his stance and the damage he did to education based on fuck all.

Abbott is on an extremely high horse. ..she shoves her superior credentials on us .

She didn't do it year's ago. She did it recently and it's tip of iceberg of long line of hypocrisy from her.

And this is nothing more than a look how cool, I am. I am a man of the people.

What a fucking crock of shit.

If you can't see through it then you deserve him as leader of the tories and PM.

Unfinished ....

On that I agree. But it's wealthier user's full stop those whose lives have safety nets Etc. Including wealthier young teens