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Mass walkout threatened as axed adviser David Nutt accuses Gordon Brown of being first prime minister to go against advice of his scientific panel
Jump to full article: The Guardian (uk), 2009-11-01
Intro: 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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