In America as well as Great Britain drug policy is most decidedly political policy with scientific evidence playing a very inadequate role. Stating such an elementary truth can get you fired as British psychopharmacologist Professor David Nutt head of the
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) found out two weeks ago when he
lost his job for criticizing the Home Office’s decision to reclassify cannabis from a class C drug, the least harmful, to class B. In a lecture given at the Center for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London Professor Nutt accused then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith of basing the move to change the marijuana classification on a willful
"distorting and devaluing" of the scientific evidence. He stated that
"we have to accept young people like to experiment -- with drugs and other potentially harmful activities -- and what we should be doing in all of this is to protect them from harm at this stage of their lives. We therefore have to provide more accurate and credible information. If you think that scaring kids will stop them using, you are probably wrong."
Needless to say, the sacking of the head of the ACMD has caused a great deal of controversy with two members of the drug council, chemist Les King and clinical director Marion Walker resigning in protest. This week current Home Secretary Alan Johnson, who is responsible for Nutt’s dismissal, agreed to meet with the remaining members of the ACMD. The session described as tense by The Independent led to the resignations of three more council members, chemist Dr Simon Campbell, psychologist Dr John Marsden and scientific consultant Ian Ragan. Science spokesman for the opposition Liberal Democrats, Evan Harris, contended that "the latest resignations represent a deepening in the crisis of confidence of scientists in the Government – in particular in the Home Secretary. That they come after Alan Johnson met the ACMD demonstrates that he just doesn't get it when it comes to the importance of respecting the academic freedom and integrity of independent, unpaid science advisers."
Cross posted on The Trebach Report
