If Gove had been caught he'd have had all sorts of connections to get him off with a lesser sentence and would've had access to far better legal recourse than those below him. That's the case for all crimes, of course - the difference here is that occasional drug usage really isn't all that dangerous at all and so it's a farce that anyone is being punished for it at all. The problem is that people are only actually punished in the first place because of the politicians who make the laws, and the current government is clearly filled with a lot of people who've actively taken those drugs in the past and still see fit to punish others for doing so.
This has often been the case - weed was used as a convenient way to demonise poor black people for years but became cool when middle-class college kids started taking it. And I'd say a similar attitude probably prevails now: police officers are probably a lot more likely to reprimand people from certain backgrounds for drug use than others.
You can't help it . You imagine that smug smile on his face and the word comes out.