All of you will share my shock and outrage that our colleague Professor David Nutt, has been sacked from his honorary position as Chair of The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. The principle function of the ACMD has been to examine the body of scientific evidence on the harms that psychopharmaceuticals cause, which in turn informs their status in their legal classification. As a Professor with an international research reputation on the harms that drugs cause, there could be noone better placed to Chair this committee. But you will be aware that the Government has ignored the advice of the ACMD with regard to the downgrading of category of cannabis from B to C, and ignored their call to include alcohol and tobacco in the tables, for reasons that are entirely political. David publicly questioned why the government should appoint a team of experts and then ignore their advice, and for that reason he was sacked. I would not pretend that the legal status of drugs is simple - and acknowledge that public health and behaviour have large political dimensions: it is precisely because the two forces of science and politics apparently conflict that we need to encourage open and honest debate - not attempt to silence it so crudely (and utterly ineffectively). It is ironic that in countries such as Afghanistan, we are trying to promote our notion of democracy: I wonder what they make of our democratically elected government which will sack a man for free speech, and expressing a scientifically based opinion that opposed the stance of political prejudice?
Stop Press - read David Colquoun's excellent commentary in the current BMJ here.
