Pubdate: Mon, 29 Mar 2010
Source: Journal, The (UK)
Copyright: 2010 NCJ Media Limited
Contact:  http://www.journallive.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3752

ADVISER QUITS AMID LEGAL HIGH ROW

A key government drugs adviser quit just hours before  Home Secretary
Alan Johnson was expected to announce a  proposed ban on mephedrone,
it has emerged.

Dr Polly Taylor is the sixth member of the Advisory  Council on the
Misuse of Drugs to resign since the  sacking of the chairman,
Professor David Nutt, last  year.

The move will come as a blow to Mr Johnson who is due  to meet with
his chief drugs advisor, Professor Les  Iversen and is understood to
be likely to accept his  advice that the drug be placed in Class B.

Dr Taylor's departure could derail plans to pass a ban  through
Parliament before the expected start of the  general election
campaign. The Advisory Council on the  Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which
Prof Iversen chairs, is  required to present a full report on the
dangers of  mephedrone before a ban can come into force. But this  is
unlikely to happen until after Easter, according to  Home Office sources.

Once the report is passed on, the change in the law  would have to be
approved by both houses of Parliament  and the Privy Council. Critics
alleged there was a  delay in banning the drug, which has been linked
to a  series of deaths in recent weeks.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne  said work by the
ACMD on the dangers of mephedrone was  put back because of
resignations from the council,  which included the expert in charge of
research on the  drug. In a letter to the Home Secretary, Dr Taylor
said  she feared the panel's advice was not being treated
independently. She wrote: "I feel that there is little  more we can do
to describe the importance of ensuring  that advice is not subjected
to a desire to please  ministers or the mood of the day's Press."

Parliamentary rules require that before a drug can be  reclassified
the government must consult a "properly  constituted" ACMD, which
should include a vet among its  members. The families of victims have
called for a ban  on mephedrone, which is known as Plant Food, or
Miaow  Miaow and sold on the internet as a "legal high".

Last week 24-year-old Lois Waters from Norton, North  Yorkshire became
the latest person to die after taking  the drug. Her death followed
those of Louis Wainwright,  18, and Nicholas Smith, 19, in Scunthorpe.
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