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Scientists rebel at drug czar, David Nutt, sacking  

The head of Britain's leading medical research organisation rounded on the government yesterday for sacking its principal drugs adviser.

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, chief executive of the Medical Research Council, said scientists must be allowed to give "unfettered advice without the fear of reprisal".

His criticism followed the abrupt dismissal of David Nutt on Friday. This weekend Nutt said many of his colleagues on the advisory council on the misuse of drugs, which he chaired, could resign in protest. "I wouldn't be surprised if some of them stepped down," he said. "Maybe all of them will." . . .

Nutt said he had been sacked for telling the public the truth about drugs. "I'm extremely disappointed that the government isn't prepared to have a mature and robust discussion about the drugs issue," he said.

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EDITORIAL: Drugs: Prejudice and political weakness have rejected scientific facts  

The sacking of David Nutt for insisting on the probity of scientific evidence that did not correspond to political exigencies has a significance well beyond the drugs debate. The essence of democracy is evidence- based argument, reason and genuine deliberation. Of course there will be a passionate clash of values and priorities, but if we cannot accept the facts we descend into a shouting match between rival prejudices.

This is not the first time the government has shown its unwillingness to accept the primacy of science in the debate over drugs. . . .

Britain is losing its way, unmoored from its tradition of fair play, debate and respect for facts. Nutt's sacking was another milestone in Britain's progression from a great Enlightenment country into a place where prejudice reigns. Big Media has played its part, but so have timid, callow politicians. The dismissal demonstrates how profoundly disfigured our politics is becoming by a political class unwilling to stand up to the way public opinion is being manipulated.

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Ministers face rebellion over drug tsar's sacking  

The government was at the centre of a furious backlash from leading scientists last night following its sacking of Britain's top drugs adviser.

The decision by the home secretary, Alan Johnson, to call on Professor David Nutt to resign as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has thrown the future of the respected independent body into severe doubt. There were claims last night that many of those who sit on the 31-strong council – which advises ministers on what evidence there is of harm caused by drugs – may resign en masse, raising serious doubts about how ministers will justify policy decisions.

Several were this weekend seeking urgent reassurances from the government that it will not try to control their agenda and will allow them to speak out before they decide whether to quit. One is said to have already resigned.

The government's decision to dismiss Nutt came after he wrote a paper for the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS) at King's College London that questioned the "artificial" separation of alcohol and tobacco from illegal drugs. . . .

His comments were echoed by a spokesperson for the Government Office for Science, part of Lord Mandelson's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, who said it was "vitally important that scientists are able to give objective and independent advice to ministers". Nutt has argued that all drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, should be ranked by a "harm" index, with alcohol coming fifth behind cocaine, heroin, barbiturates and methadone. According to Nutt, tobacco should rank ninth, ahead of cannabis, LSD and ecstasy.

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Six drugs service scientists may resign over sacking of chairman 

Leading members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) are expected to resign over the sacking of its chairman, leaving the service in disarray, one of its leading scientists has warned.

Dr Les King, a respected chemist and former head of the Drugs Intelligence Unit in the Forensic Science Service, said that anger over the "disgraceful" decision by the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, to remove Professor David Nutt could lead to a meltdown in the 40-year-old organisation.

He claimed that as many as six of its scientists will resign from the independent organisation, putting further pressure on the Government over its handling of the affair. Dr King cautioned that the Government's whole drugs programme could be at risk.

Fuelling the sense of anger in the scientific community over the sacking, Lord Drayson, the Science minister, expressed concern that he had not been informed of the decision.

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Drug policy in chaos after adviser is sacked  

The Sunday Telegraph understands that members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) have been discussing a number of options to protest against the removal of their chairman, Professor Nutt, by Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary.

A mass resignation is believed to be among the tactics being considered by the 30 unpaid members, including some of the country's leading doctors, psychiatrists, chemists and charity workers, who advise ministers on the harmfulness of drugs so that penalties can be set proportionately.

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LIDDLE: Like drunks in denial, MPs blow off truth about drugs 

Nutt also pointed out the simple fact that cannabis is less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol, pretty much regardless of the strength of the dope; nobody disputes this, and nobody disputed it three years ago when Nutt first made the comparison. But at that point the government was busy trying to push through its bill to ban the smoking of tobacco in public places and what is now an unfortunate truth was then a useful propaganda tool. . . .

But advisers should advise, surely, and be especially commended for doing so when their advice runs counter to public opinion and gets up the nose, to use an inapt metaphor, of critics. We have a serious drug problem and the sacking of Nutt suggests that there is not the remotest political will to address it.

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LAUREN BOOTH: Honest Professor Nutt ...he makes much more sense than "Just Say No" Zammo 

My name is Lauren and I am a junkie. An addict to harmful substances, according to the Government's former drugs tsar, Professor David Nutt.

He was sacked on Friday for claiming that cannabis and Ecstasy are less dangerous than alcohol or cigarettes in a new 'index of harm' he compiled to warn the public of the relative dangers of various substances.

Thanks to this list I have gone from being a social drinker and smoker to a habitual user of the fifth and ninth most harmful drugs available in Britain.

According to Nutt, who was chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, the nicotine I inhale and the Australian merlot I drink most evenings are more 'potentially harmful' than cannabis and Ecstasy. So, naturally, I was furious with his statements.

Furious, yes - because it's taken this long for someone to have the guts to take the legal-illegal drug argument by the scruff of the neck and give it a good shake. . . .

Research in recent years has analysed the link between the harmful effects of drugs relative to their current classification.

Alcohol, solvents and tobacco (all unclassified drugs) have repeatedly been rated as more dangerous than Ecstasy, and LSD (class A drugs). If the current ABC system is retained, alcohol would – and should – be rated a class A drug and tobacco class B.

Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King’s College London, has said Nutt’s controversial briefing paper gave an insight into what drugs policy might look like – if it was based on research evidence rather than political or moral positioning.

Then, Home Secretary, Alan Johnson did what Home Secretaries do when faced with a tricky debate on the ‘war on drugs’. He shot the messenger. . . .

Until now my unhealthy, yet completely legal, habits have been segregated from any debate concerning the relative harm caused by other, less readily available behaviour-altering substances. . . .

We, the 'social' drinkers and part-time puffers of Britain, have another reprieve from censure, thanks to Mr Johnson.

Our legal, taxable poisons will not be classified by the Government in the same way as toxins from which they cannot raise much-needed revenue.

And the debate on how our society relies on substance abuse and what radical measures need to be taken to lessen their stranglehold on us suffers another major setback.

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• Zyuganov calls for state monopoly on alcohol, tobacco  

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov called for nationalising Russia’s mineral and resource sector and key industries by introducing a progressive tax on high incomes.

He also suggested that the government should regain all control over alcohol and tobacco production in the country.

Zyuganov believes this will help “concentrate necessary resources in order to support such leaders in overcoming the crisis as construction, agriculture, automobile industry, light and textile industries, small and medium-size business”.

As supporting measures, he suggested introducing moratorium on the growth of tariffs for the services of so-called natural monopolies, which, in his opinion, has “become a way of turning people’s pockets out and destroying industry

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• 10 smokers’ paradises: A guide for globe-trotters  

With so many places around the world instituting smoking regulations, increasing taxes and, quite literally, kicking smokers to the curb, it's getting harder to find cigarette-friendly vacation spots.

But not every country is trying to kill that buzz. On the flip side, some of them, such as Greece, are attempting to crack down but are failing miserably.

You may feel alone smoking in some major U.S. cities, so we've compiled a list of countries with the most prevalent tobacco use among people aged 15 or older, based on 2005 data from the World Health Organization.

Nonsmokers, too, will want to take note of the list. As you might guess, a smoker's paradise can be, in turn, a nonsmoker's hell.

1. Greece:

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• Cheap tobacco driving youth to become smokers 

Lebanese health experts calling for a comprehensive smoking ban have been given additional impetus to their cause after a major international public affairs magazine published a major study warning youth smoking rates were increasing dangerously. In a report published earlier this month by the Economist Intelligence Unit with sponsorship from international pharmaceutical company Pfizer, researchers warned that cheap and easily accessible tobacco was driving Lebanon's youth to take up smoking, a habit many will continue into adulthood.

The 28-page report, entitled "Tomorrow's regular customers? Stamping out tobacco use in the Middle East and Africa," also noted that while many countries were now introducing smoking bans in public places, the developing world was seeing a steady increase in smokers, accounting for some 70 percent of the world's total smokers in 2005, compared to about 40 percent in 1970.

The developing world will thus pay the highest price for tobacco use: the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that by 2030, 80 percent of tobacco-related deaths will occur in low- to middle-income countries, the report said.

In Lebanon, over 3,500 people die each year because of tobacco exposure at a cost of around $900 million, according to the Health Ministry.

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LETTER: Where's the smoking ban?  

The Editor, Sir:

The Ministry of Health promised us earlier this year that it would be moving during the first quarter of the current fiscal year for the enactment of comprehensive legislation respecting a ban on smoking in public spaces.

We are coming towards the end of the third quarter of this fiscal year and the silence from the ministry on this promise has been rather deafening. One wonders whether 'special interests' may be at work here in preventing this from becoming a reality. . . .

It is full time now, Minister, that you stop the pussyfooting and bring meaningful action to restrict severely this bad and unhealthy practice of smoking.

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Sacked anti-drugs adviser slams Brown 

Britain's former chief advisor on drugs on Saturday accused Prime Minister Gordon Brown of overstating the dangers of cannabis for political reasons.

Professor David Nutt of Imperial College London was hitting back at the government after he was forced to resign as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) on Friday.

Nutt this week said cannabis was no more dangerous than alcohol or tobacco, and criticised ministers for upgrading the drug from a class C drug -- which includes tranquillisers -- to a class B, alongside amphetamines.

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Papers focus on drug adviser sacking 

Several papers express anger at the departure of the government's senior drugs advisor Professor David Nutt.

The Guardian says that by stating that cannabis and ecstasy are less harmful than tobacco and alcohol, he was just pointing out some obvious truths.

"Does this government only want to hear advice that it is already inclined to follow", asks the Independent.

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Ex-tobacco insider says companies target blacks 

A former tobacco industry executive said Friday in Charleston that cigarette companies have targeted black people in America.

LaTanisha Wright began working for the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., based in Louisville, Ky., in 2001. She resigned after the company merged with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco in July 2004 to form Reynolds American.

"My goal is to educate people in churches, schools and community centers, as well as public health officials," Wright said. She said her experience in the tobacco industry makes her better able to help people now.

"Our training stresses how Big Tobacco targets black communities. A lot of people living in black communities don't recognize that," Wright said. "They targeted black communities and youth. They post many more billboards and signs in black communities than in white communities."

About 40 people attended Wright's five-hour training session on Friday at the Blessed John XXIII Pastoral Center.

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Former Tobacco Industry Executive Shares Inside Secrets  

A national organization is bringing to the spotlight the connection between smoking and the African-American community. A five hour seminar was underway Friday afternoon in Charleston called "Follow the Signs." A former tobacco industry manager and current National African-American Tobacco Prevention Network Director is traveling the country - alerting African-Americans on how big tobacco companies are specifically targeting them.

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