Government fires top adviser for challenging its hardline policy on
cannabis and ecstasy
By Jeremy Laurance, Health editor
Saturday, 31 October 2009
The Government's drugs tsar was forced to resign last night for
stating his view that cannabis, ecstasy and LSD were less harmful
than the legal drugs tobacco and alcohol.
The Home Secretary Alan Johnson asked Professor David Nutt to resign
as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD),
saying he had "lost confidence" in his ability to give impartial advice.
But last night Professor Nutt, pictured, who is head of
psychopharmacology at the University of Bristol, retaliated, accusing
the Government of "misleading" the pubic in its messages about drugs
and of "Luddite" tendencies.
He was backed by other senior scientists and politicians.
Colin Blakemore, professor of neuroscience at Oxford University and
former chief executive of the Medical Research Council, said: "The
Government cannot expect the experts who serve on its independent
committees not to voice their concern if the advice they give is
rejected even before it is published. "I worry that the dismissal of
Professor Nutt will discourage academic and clinical experts from
offering their knowledge and time to help the Government in the future."
Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies
at King's College London, where Professor Nutt made his comments,
said: "I'm dismayed that the Home Secretary appears to believe that
political calculation trumps honest and informed scientific opinion.
The message is that, when it comes to the Home Office's relationship
with the research community, honest researchers should be seen but
not heard." He added it was "a bad day for science and for the cause
of evidence-informed policy making".