MPS CALL FOR DRUGS TO BE CLASSIFIED ON BASIS OF RISK FACTORS

The system for classifying drugs is inconsistent, irrational and "not
fit for purpose", according to a report published today by MPs.

The report is highly critical of the police, the Government and its
advisers.

The Commons science and technology committee, chaired by Phil Willis,
has called for the classification system to be put on a scientific
basis, according to the harm a substance causes.

The report is heavily influenced by an unpublished report by a panel
of drug experts-seen by The Daily Telegraph - that concluded that
alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than ecstasy, LSD and cannabis,
based on a "rational" classification system that Mr Willis strongly
supports.

"The current classification system is riddled with anomalies and
clearly not fit for purpose," said Mr Willis. "From what we have seen,
the Home Office and ACMD (Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs)
approach to classification seems to have been based on ad hockery and
conservatism."

The report, Drugs Classification: Making a Hash of it? says that the
Government's approach is "opaque" and gives the impression that reviews are
being launched "as knee-jerk responses to media storms".

It cites the example of cannabis as one where "a media outcry was
enough to prompt a review".

Mr Willis said the only way to get an up-to-date classification system
was to remove the link with penalties.

The unpublished study by experts, including Prof Colin Blakemore,
chief executive of the Medical Research Council and Prof David Nutt of
the University of Bristol, who serves on the ACMD, assessed a list of
20 drugs, legal and illegal, in nine categories and weighed up the
physical harm, tendency to induce dependence and the impact on
families, communities and society.

The "rational" ranking showed some legal substances were much riskier
than those deemed most dangerous, the current Class A drugs. Others
that have been demonised, notably ecstasy, are near the bottom of the
table of risk.

The decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class C drug - made by the
Home Secretary in 2004 - was criticised as sending out the wrong message.

Alcohol is high up the new scale, even though it is legal, because it
is involved in more than half of all visits to accident and emergency
departments and orthopaedic admissions. It often leads to violence and
is a frequent cause of car accidents.

Meanwhile, tobacco is estimated to cause up to 40 per cent of all
hospital illness and 60 per cent of drug-related fatalities. By the
experts' method, alcohol and tobacco would both be Class B drugs.

The MPs want to see the classification of drugs routinely reassessed
this way in the light of new scientific evidence and court sentences
for drug abuse stratified according to how far up the new scale a drug
lies, good news for patients.