Drug taken by government leader with high hopes? (8)
I believe the answer is:
aspiring
'leader with high hopes?' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'drug taken by government' is the wordplay.
'drug' becomes 'aspirin' (aspirin is a kind of drug).
'taken by government' becomes 'g' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'aspirin'+'g'='ASPIRING'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aspiring that I've seen before include "Having ambition to achieve greater things" , "Striving" , "Would-be" , "Having a strong desire to achieve something" , "Hoping" .)