SCIENCE CLASHES WITH POLITICS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM DrugSense FOCUS Alert #418 - Tuesday, 3 November 2009 The British government faces a revolt of its scientific advisers after it fired the chair of its independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) last week. At least two members of the ACMD have already resigned in protest. The ACMD is an independent expert body that advises on drug-related issues including recommendations on classification under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. It's website is at http://drugs.homeoffice.gov.uk/drugs-laws/acmd/ Home Secretary Alan Johnson demanded the resignation of Professor David Nutt on Friday. Professor Nutt's views which resulted in his firing resulted from the release of this report http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/opus1714/Estimating_drug_harms.pdf You may follow the scandal at this link http://www.mapinc.org/people/David+Nutt Please let the British press know what you think by sending letters to the newspapers. Monday The Times published Professor Nutt's OPED, below, presenting his view. Source: Times, The (UK) Copyright: 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd Contact: Author: David Nutt PENALTIES FOR DRUG USE MUST REFLECT HARM How Can True Scientists Advise This or Any Other Government? In July this year I gave a lecture on the assessment of drug harms and how these relate to the legislation controlling drugs. According to Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, some contents of this lecture meant I had crossed the line from science to policy and so he sacked me. I do not know which comments were beyond the line or, indeed, where the line was, but the Government has lost its major expert on drugs and drug harms and may indeed lose the rest of its scientific advisers in the field. All drugs are potentially harmful and many of the harms can be measured. We can use scientific methods to estimate these and produce a ranking, and compare our scores with their location in the Misuse of Drugs Act. Heroin and cocaine appear to be in the correct place (Class A), whereas Ecstasy (Class A) and cannabis do not (Class B). The reason for making drugs illegal is to let society reduce harms by punishing their sale and use. The purpose of having the ABC classes is to scale penalties according to relative harms. Possession of a class A drug for personal use can lead to seven years in prison, for class B, it is five years and for class C, two years. The classes are also important in educating the public about the relative harms of drugs. So it is imperative that the classification of drugs truly reflects their harms, otherwise injustices may occur and the educational message be undermined. Scientific inquiry into drug harms must also be honest and accurate so that the best quality evidence is available to the experts and government. Legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco are as harmful as many illegal drugs and currently score highly on our ranking list. What are appropriate penalties for drug use? This question has moral and practical aspects, but the penalties must reflect the real and relative harms of drugs. My sacking has cast a huge shadow over the relationship of science to policy. Several of the science experts from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) have resigned in protest and it seems likely that many others will follow suit. This means the Home Office no longer has a functioning advisory group, which is very unfortunate given the ever-increasing problems of drugs and the emergence of new ones. Also it seems unlikely that any "true" scientist - one who can only speak the truth - will be able to work for this, or future, Home Secretaries. Others have suggested a way forward: create a truly independent advisory council. This is the only realistic way out of the current mess. PLEASE SEND US COPIES OF YOUR LETTERS Please post copies of your letters to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form Suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides Prepared by: Richard Lake, Senior Editor www.mapinc.org =.

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