Police won't rule out action against Prince Harry over drinking, marijuana smoking

LONDON - Police in the western English county where Prince Harry has admitted illegally drinking and smoking marijuana refused Monday to rule out legal action against the 17-year-old. <br> <br> Superintendent Mandy Evely of the Wiltshire police said Harry would be treated &#34;exactly the same way&#34; as any other teen. <br> <br> &#34;One of the newspapers have said they have some sort of dossier of evidence against him,&#34; Evely said. &#34;We will be looking at that and if there is any evidence on which we can act, then of course we will do that.&#34; <br> <br> Prince Charles has won widespread praise for his reaction when he learned of his younger son&#39;s drug use last summer: He sent Harry to visit a drug rehabilitation center to talk with recovering addicts. <br> <br> &#34;I think the way that Prince Charles and the royal family have handled it is absolutely right,&#34; Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday. <br> <br> Harry, who was 16 at the time of the incident, admitted drinking with friends at a pub near his father&#39;s Highgrove country estate and smoking marijuana with friends, the News of the World tabloid reported. <br> <br> Charles&#39; office said the matter was now &#34;closed&#34; but did not dispute the published account. A royal source confirmed the tabloid&#39;s story was correct. <br> <br> The south London clinic where Harry was sent, Featherstone Lodge, confirmed that the young prince had spent the day there speaking with patients. <br> <br> Eton, the prestigious boarding school Harry attends, said it has a strict ban on illegal drugs but expects parents to deal with any drug use by students outside of term time. <br> <br> The school said it had dealt with Harry&#39;s case and, while refusing to comment on it specifically, suggested Harry might have to take a urine test or may already have done so. <br> <br> &#34;In cases where concerns exist about a boy&#39;s possible involvement in drugs, he will be counseled and warned and urine tests are sometimes used to clarify the situation and if possible to put a boy in the clear, which is in fact the usual outcome,&#34; a statement issued by Eton said. <br> <br> The incident is the first public trouble for either of the children of Charles and Princess Diana, who died in 1997 when Harry was 12, leaving him and his older brother William in Charles&#39; care. <br> <br> Evely said police would also consider any evidence against the owners of the Rattlebone Inn pub, where Harry allegedly drank with friends. Marijuana is illegal in Britain and the drinking age is 18. <br> <br> London-based Young&#39;s Brewery, which owns the Rattlebone, said Harry had visited the pub a number of times. <br> <br> &#34;At no time was he served any alcoholic drink and he was always perfectly behaved,&#34; a Young&#39;s statement said. The company said it strictly observed laws against serving alcohol to those under 18 and did not tolerate drugs at the pub. <br> <br> Harry was back at the prestigious Eton school Monday after spending Sunday with his father at Highgrove. <br> <br> Bodyguards accompany Harry wherever he goes, although it is unclear whether they were with him as he drank and smoked. <br> <br> Penny Junor, who has written a biography of Prince Charles, said the royal family&#39;s bodyguards only had the authority to stop the boys from doing something when it directly affected their safety. <br> <br> &#34;They are there to protect the princes from danger or assassination ... not from the normal kind of episodes in growing up,&#34; Junor said. &#34;They were partly selected to be brotherly figures rather than fatherly figures.&#34; <br> <br> <br>