January 15, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 30, 1422

LONDON, Jan 14: British police say Prince Harry, the second son of Prince Charles, could face police action after revelations that he has smoked cannabis.

The police were reacting to reports in Sunday newspapers that Harry, 17, had confessed to his father that he had smoked cannabis several times and got drunk at parties he had held at Charles’s Highgrove country estate in western England.

Charles has already reprimanded Harry and sent him to visit a drug rehabilitation clinic in south London to see for himself how drugs can ruin young people’s lives.

Queen Elizabeth issued a statement saying she supported Charles’s stance over the “seriousness” of her grandson’s behaviour and hoped the matter would now be closed.

But on Monday, police said they could not rule out taking action against the young prince themselves.

“...we are not in possession of any evidence that would justify us interviewing him...but will of course consider and act, if appropriate, on any information provided,” Wiltshire police said in a statement. The police are waiting to assess information which newspapers have promised to provide, the statement said.

A Home Office (Interior Ministry) spokeswoman said it was highly unlikely that the young prince, third in line to the throne, would be prosecuted as police had never caught him in possession of the drug.—Reuters