Liberal Vision

New drugs Tsar appointed: “cannabis should be legalised”

Today we have been told that Prof Les Iversen has replaced Prof David Nutt as the chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) on an interim basis (12 month contract).

This is the same Prof Iversen who was quoted back in 2003 as saying…

“…There have been no deaths to date caused by the use of cannabis….Cannabis should be legalised not just decriminalised because it is comparatively less dangerous than legal drugs alcohol and tobacco”

In the wake of Professor Nutt’s sacking, (and five members of the panel resigning in protest at the sacking) Alan Johnson was forced to publicly confirm his commitment to the independence of Government advisers. Unfortunately, that’s not quite how it came across today. On radio 5 Live’s Victoria Derbyshire show earlier, the new Drugs Tsar (or dont we use that term anymore?) seemed to be pulling back from the sentiments he expressed back in 2003- siting that things “have changed” since 2003. Would that be his appointment to the chair…. and/or the Government sacking of his predecessor I wonder?

Meanwhile Professor Nutt has not let the grass grow under his feet (bad pun I know). He has now created a rival  “Independent Council on Drug Harms”. Somehow I dont think that the word “Independent” in the title is there by accident. The rival council will be joined by four of the five ex-ACMD members who resigned when Prof Nutt was sacked, and five members of the current ACMD. The professor said that his new group would provide independent scientific evidence about the effects of drugs, and that its “goal” was to supplant what the ACMD was doing. He certainly seems to have attracted an impressive line up and attracting five members from the current ACMD must be considered a coup.

For those of us seeking honesty from the scientific community this has to be a good thing. It will certainly concentrate the minds of the ACMD when making future recommendations. But overall this is a sad endictment on the Government and its treatment of its advisers that we have arrived at the position of having TWO panels tussling for power on the issue of drugs.