Minister's son on drugs related charges

The arrest of a British cabinet minister's son on drugs-related charges has renewed the debate in Britain about the decriminalisation of cannabis.

The minister and his son -- who's seventeen -- cannot be named for legal reasons.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said Mr Blair was being kept informed and he had given the minister his full support.

The statement followed a report in a British newspaper ,The Mirror, in which a journalist alleged that the minister's son sold her a small amount of cannabis at a pub.

The newspaper said that once he had been informed, the cabinet minister took his son to a police station to report the matter.The BBC Political Correspondent says the government has strongly resisted the idea of decriminalising cannabis and will be embarrassed by the incident.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service