Political
editor Peston, who defected to ITV in a £400,000 move from the BBC
earlier this year, admits he was a heavy user of cannabis
While
the ministers he interviews are always reluctant to discuss their
colourful pasts, attention-loving TV presenter Robert Peston has decided
to reveal his own history of drug taking.
Political
editor Peston, who defected to ITV in a £400,000 move from the BBC
earlier this year, admits he was a heavy user of cannabis.
However, he claims the drug did not cause him or his contemporaries in bohemian London circles any lasting damage.
After
confessing that he drank a lot of beer, wine and cider as a teenager,
the Labour peer’s son says he took what he describes as ‘a lot of
dope’.
‘I didn’t do hard drugs but from about the age of 12, 13 onwards there was a lot of dope around and we smoked it,’ Peston says.
Numerous
studies have linked marijuana use to increased risk for psychiatric
disorders, including psychosis, depression and anxiety, but Peston
claims there were no ill-effects.
‘I’m not remotely saying it’s a good thing to smoke any of that kind of stuff,’ he says.
‘I’m
just saying that it happened, and if I look around the people that I
grew up with, I don’t think it did any of us any serious harm. It
certainly didn’t do me any serious harm.’
Peston,
who is known for his strangulated vowels and long pauses, says he
delayed making his admission, to be broadcast on a forthcoming edition
of Radio 4 programme My Teenage Diary, until his son reached adulthood.
‘One
of the reasons I left talking about my diaries until this age was my
youngest kid is now 18, so I can’t be a bad influence on him by talking
about quite how much we drank in the early Seventies.’
The
56-year-old broadcaster, whose writer wife Sian Busby died of lung
cancer in 2012, launched his new political talk show, Peston on Sunday,
earlier this month to disappointing ratings.
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