Former UK drug advisor starts new anti-ACMD foundation...

I couldn't think of a better way to word the title, but read this and you'll understand what I meant...

The governments drug advice body is 'fataly flawed' and should be reconstituted as an independent organisation along the lines of the Bank of England, according to former drug adviser David Nutt, who was sacked in a row over the classification of cannabis. Nutt said if the Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs act (ACMD) was not given more autonomy in future he would consider setting up an alternative committee to provide independent advice on drugs. "Unless the issue is resolved properly, you're going to have to have an independent group. I know several members of the council will join me if things aren't resolved next tuesday", he said. "It's obvious the politicians are out of step, that the rest of the world has a more mature view about drugs than politicians''.

Update:

www.guardian.co.uk...

Professor David Nutt, former chief drugs adviser David Nutt said the ACMD's new interim chair, Les Iversen, had sent him 'a very supportive email'. Photograph: Ian Nicholson/AP David Nutt, the scientist sacked as a government adviser by the home secretary, today defiantly launched his own independent committee which he says will provide the definitive scientific verdict on the risks of drugs. Nutt said his committee was willing to give advice to the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), from which he was sacked as chair. He was dismissed from the post after criticising politicians for distorting research evidence and claiming alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than some illegal drugs, including '___', ecstasy and cannabis. The new committee – called the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) – includes a number of big names in the field and has the potential to embarrass the government, due to its determination to make public the evidence on the relative risks and harms of drugs without regard to political sensitivities.

Nutt-sacked jokes aside, I think this is good news, and it's just nice to see someone in such a position of power speak the way he does about the politicians that are trying to stimey any and all common sense...